We finish up our do-over coverage of the (very long) life of Laura Ingalls Wilder! This episode covers the years when she was writing her iconic Little House series- from conception within the pages of a memoir, to the business of writing the books, to the many years it took her to write the series. And we talk about the involvement of her daughter, the prolific writer Rose Wilder Lane, in the creation of the books.
In 1932, when Laura was 65, her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published. For the next 11 years, a total of eight books were written for the very popular series. Laura’s life changed in some ways; for instance, her house and land were finally paid in full, she didn’t have to fret over every penny, and her daughter built Laura and Almanzo a new, updated house on their property. But Laura still lived at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri, and she was still active in her community. Oh sure, there was increased traffic as her fanbase grew, but Laura’s frugal ways and simple lifestyle remained intact.
Almanzo passed away in 1949 after the series was fully published. Laura had written a draft for an adult-aged book about the first years of their marriage, but she put that story away, and it wasn’t published until long after her death in 1971.
Laura Ingalls Wilder died on February 10, 1957, at the age of 90. She, Almanzo, and Rose are all buried in the Mansfield Cemetery in Mansfield, Missouri. Her books, however, live on. They are still in publication, still attracting visitors to the six home sites dedicated to her, and one to Almanzo, and still touching the lives of readers around the world.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Start with this, the first eight are fully written by Laura, but The First Four Years was, essentially, a draft she left in her papers published long after her death.It won a Pulitzer for Biographies, of course it’s good!Make sure you get the Annotated version.Her columns from the Missouri Ruralist.Edited by William AndersonBy Christine WoodsideNot about Laura specifically. By Lillian SchlisselBy Laura, edited by Roger MacBrideHistorical Fiction Retelling (there has got to be a name for this genre) By Sarah MillerAlso Historical Fiction Retelling that Beckett recommended.
Rose Wilder Lane’s Innocence is online, It sounds an awful lot like the Wilder family trip to Florida. The other book she wrote that sounds an awful lot like Laura’s Pioneer Girl, Let the Hurricane Roar is also online.
For articles and information written by a group of experts on the Laura Universe (including Caroline Fraser and Land of Laura host Sandra Hume: Little House on the Prairie (dot com.)
A podcast from an expert on Laura who talks with other experts on Laura. Find this show on your favorite podcatcher
Land of Laura podcast: great source for all things Laura- an expert talking to other experts! Find her wherever you get your podcasts or her YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@LandofLaura1867
Here’s a fun rabbit hole: Sears Houses. The Stone House is a modified “Mitchell” style.
Moving Pictures!
The original television series (that got us all pronouncing Almanzo’s name wrong) is available on Amazon Prime.
There is a PBS American Masters documentary on Laura. That link takes you to a page where writer Roxanne Gay talks about Laura’s racist depictions in her Little House series.
In this episode, we cover Laura’s life outside her Little House series, from her early and traumatic years of marriage, to her, Almanzo, and daughter Rose’s life in Mansfield, Missouri. After the family’s tough years of settling in the Ozarks and establishing their farm, Rocky Ridge, Laura began a work as both a newspaper columnist, a Farm Loan officer, and manager of their family farm. While Almanzo worked farming and building a cozy house for the family, Laura worked her tushie off taking in boarders, cooking for railroad travelers, selling eggs and butter…anything that would create an income.
In Part One we talked about her childhood. In this, Part Two, we cover the years as she established herself as a writer and developed a writing partnership with her world traveling, freelance writer daughter, Rose. In Part Three, we will get to the writing of the books that would engrave Laura’s name in history, and their own story that lived long after Laura’s ended.
All media recommendations and sources will be listed on the final shownotes in two weeks.
Laura, circa 1885 at the time of her marriage to Almanzo. via Wikicommons
Fifteen years ago, in only our second episode, we covered beloved author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Since the 1930s, her Little House book series brought life on the American prairie to millions…and that was before the TV show! Rolling prairies! Gingham bonnets! Half Pint! The books were based on the real life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but “based on” is carrying a lot of weight here. What was the true story?
When we talked about her in 2011, we were newbie podcasters, and we used the materials and skills we had available at the time. While we have learned a few things over the years, that’s not the biggest difference in Laura’s story. Over those years, there have been A LOT of new studies and biographies about her that shine a light on the darker edges of her story. We decided to cover her again with the materials available to us now in 2026. The basic story is the same, but the details of it? The stories behind the well-known ones? Well, give a listen and find out for yourself.
Part One will cover Laura’s life beginning in Colonial America, through her parents’ story, and all the way to the beginning of her marriage to Almanzo Wilder. We hit all the times and places where her books were set, and the story is far darker than Laura shared in her beloved children’s book series.
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
Here are a couple of media recommendations to tide you over until the next episode:
Beckett has a new fascination with whatever this historical fiction genre is. By Sarah MillerAn expert on Laura talks with other experts on Laura. Susan binged the series. Find this show on your favorite podcatcher
All the rest of our media recommendations will be listed in the second part of this series
“Boadicea and her daughters” statue in Westminster, facing Big Ben. Bronze statue created by Thomas Thornycroft, finished in 1883, installed in 1902
Boudica (formerly known as Boadicea ) was a first‑century Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe in what’s now eastern England. After the Roman Empire seized her late husband’s kingdom and brutalized her family, she rallied a massive coalition of tribes and led one of the most famous uprisings in Roman Britain. Her forces burned several Roman towns, including Londinium, and for a brief moment in history, she shook the empire’s confidence. Boudicca’s fame endures as a symbol of resistance, leadership, and fierce defiance against oppression.
