I hope all is well with you and yours.
With kindest regards,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
P.S. Thanks for the papers that came this morning. Among names of Old Settlers were only 12 familiar to me. Again—Thank you. L.I.W.
I am well now
JULY 23, 1952
Dear Mr. Sherwood,
Although rather late I do wish to thank you for the Old Settlers Day copy of The De Smet News. It was very interesting and pleasant to be remembered.
Notice of the death of Alfred Ely saddened me. I have always thought of him as he was so many years ago, one of the younger boys in school, not realizing that the years had been passing with him, too.
We have had a very unpleasant spring and summer, cold, rainy, with little sunshine until last week, which has been unusually hot and sunny. We at Mansfield are thankful we live on the top of the hills where the floods of 1951 don’t reach us.
I hope the storm at Watertown did not reach De Smet and that your weather had not been too bad.
Rose is well, but her part of the country has suffered freak weather as well.
I am well now, my eyes growing stronger as I gained strength after my heart attack.
Please give my best regards to inquiring friends.
Again thanking you and with kindest regards to you and your family,
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I hope you win the trophy
SEPTEMBER 29, 1952
Dear Suzanna,
My favorite quotation is from the nineteenth Psalm.
“The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.”
The whole book of Psalms is a favorite of mine and I can repeat all. Can you?
I hope you win the trophy for the second time.
Sincerely, your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Of course Indians are people
A reader wrote Harper & Brothers, protesting that Little House on the Prairie stated that there were no people on the Kansas prairies; only the Indians lived there. “We were disturbed by your letter,” Ursula Nordstrom replied. “We knew that Mrs. Wilder had not meant to imply that Indians were not people.” When the letters were shared with Laura, she immediately realized that the wording in her book needed revision. Subsequent editions were corrected.
OCTOBER 4, 1952
Dear Ursula Nordstrom,
Your letter came this morning. . . .
You are perfectly right about the fault in “Little House on the Prairie” and have my permission to make the correction as you suggest. It was a stupid blunder of mine. Of course Indians are people and I did not intend to imply they were not.
Thanks for the proofs of the illustrations. They are so fascinating. I’m sure I’ll love them in the books.
With kindest regards,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I autographed 200 books
Samples of Garth Williams’s sketches for the new edition of the Little House books were regularly sent to Laura. In this letter Laura mentions her book signing in Springfield. Children and parents lined the sidewalk in front of Brown’s Bookstore, waiting to meet Laura. When she returned to Rocky Ridge after a full day, she declared she was “tired but happy.”
NOVEMBER 22, 1952
Dear Miss Nordstrom,
I have disarranged the pictures badly. Please excuse it. I like the pictures very much. The little ones are exquisite.
I wish Laura’s hair had always been shown in braids. She never wore it with a bow on top of her head or with a bang across her forehead.
The first day of Children’s Book Week at Brown’s Book Store in Springfield was a great success. It was Saturday the 15th. I autographed 200 books at the store that day and twenty more have since been sent to me to be autographed.
Please give my regards to Virginia Kirkus and say I have not forgotten her kindness to my first little book. . . .
With kindest regards to yourself and your office staff,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
So long ago when I taught the Perry school
In 1952, one-room schools still operated in the De Smet area. Vera McCaskell taught at the Perry School locale where Laura had been the teacher in 1884. Mrs. McCaskell read the Little House books to her students, and they wrote to Laura. In 1957, Vera McCaskell was a founder of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet, and spent years as a dedicated volunteer.
DECEMBER 1, 1952
Dear Mrs. McCaskell,
It was indeed a pleasant surprise to have a letter from you and your pupils. It brought back so clearly the time so long ago when I taught the Perry school.
It is kind of you to tell me about father’s claim as it is now and that wild geese and ducks still fly over Silver Lake. Your school house is quite different from the one where I taught [the original Perry school had burned] and must be very nice.
With kindest regards and thanks for your letter and picture, I am
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
De Smet has changed a lot
DECEMBER 1, 1952
Dear Children,
I am so pleased with your letters. I don’t know how to thank you enough. It is great to know you are going to school where the Perry school used to be and where I taught so long ago.
It surprised me to learn of 42 boats being on Lake Henry. I am glad to learn about the Big Slough and Silver Lake as they are now.
De Smet has changed a lot since it was the Little Town on the Prairie. It is not so little now.
I am glad you like my stories of the way it used to be.
It must be fun to ride a horse to school and I’m sure you have good times there.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
With love your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
With love, your friend
Edibles, especially boxes of candy, were often sent to Laura from her readers.
DECEMBER 15, 1952
Dear Steven,
Thank you so much for the box of delicious candy.
Please give my best regards to your mother and father.
With love,
Your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Your poem is lovely
Yoshihiko Sato continued to correspond with Laura Ingalls Wilder. He wrote: “I love American. I am sure to go to American when I am grown up.” Many other Japanese children sent Laura letters and gifts.
DECEMBER 31, 1952
Dear Friend,
Thank you so much for your Christmas gift which arrived on the mail this morning, having just got through customs. The picture is beautiful.
I trust you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a very Happy New Year.
You have my sympathy in the loss of your grandparent. It is sad to suffer such bereavement.
Your poem is lovely and I am glad you got a prize in the jumping contest.
Your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
A place where I’d love to go
Detroit’s Wilder Branch Library thrived throughout the 1950s, and moved to a newly constructed building in 1967, Laura’s centennial year. Mr. Ulveling and two other librarians, Mrs. Keltz and Ruth Rutzen, updated Laura periodically about the library’s activities.
FEBRUARY 20, 1953
Dear Mrs. Keltz,
It is rather late to acknowledge your kind letter. My mail was so heavy I have been a long time answering it and saved yours for later as a treat not to be taken hastily. Your letter is very interesting and I thank you so much for taking the trouble to write it. I am truly glad to hear such a good report on the Wilder Branch Library. It seems a place where I’d love to go.
Please give my best regards to Mr. Ralph Ulveling and Miss Ruth Rutzen.
Sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Been well, really astonishingly so
B. Brooks,
a California craftsperson, specialized in creating character dolls representing famous literary figures. At the request of Clara Webber, a set was rendered for display in the Pomona Public Library. California librarians wished that Laura Ingalls Wilder could have a set for herself. A set was created and sent for Laura’s eighty-sixth birthday on February 7, 1953.
[MARCH 1953]
Dear Children’s Librarians,
The dolls have arrived. They are wonderful! After I have looked at them for some time, I will place them on display in my glass showcase at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Library here.
I don’t know how to thank you all enough for such a beautiful birthday gift and kind remembrance of me as I pass the 86th milestone of my journey.
Please convey to all my friends there my grateful thanks.
Spring has come to the Ozarks. The hills are green with new grass, buds are swelling on the trees, spring flowers are blooming. Our winter has been very mild, still I am glad it is over.
I have been well, really astonishingly so. I am still living by myself, doing all my own work. Rose will visit me in April.
With kindest regards and all good wishes, as ever
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I am sure his illustrations will be authentic
Publishing the new edition of Little House books was one of the most monumental tasks Ursula Nordstrom and her staff had undertaken. Getting Laura Ingalls Wilder’s endorsement was essential. Getting Virginia Kirkus’s approval was also significant. The powerful children’s book guru lunched with Ursula Nordstrom in March 1953; their conversation centered on the Wilder books. Virginia Kirkus suggested that Mrs. Wilder write a letter commenting on the Garth Williams illustrations, to be sent to important librarians across America. Laura promptly wrote the following letter, expressing her pleasure over the major publishing project.
MARCH 14, 1953
Dear Miss Nordstrom,
I am eager to see the new edition of the Little House Books with illustrations by Garth Williams.
When he visited here he sat surrounded by old family photographs and while Mrs. Williams and I visited he was busy making drawings from the old pictures, so I am sure his illustrations will be authentic.
It is interesting too, that he followed the trail of the Ingalls family from Wisconsin to Minnesota, to Indian Territory, and to Dakota Territory, to what is now South Dakota where it joined with the trail of the Wilders which came from New York.
Eight years is a long time and I am now becoming a little impatient, but I expect to be well repaid for waiting when I see the Garth Williams illustrations in the new edition of my books.
With kindest regards,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I had a surprise visit this week
Any visitor from the De Smet area who stopped at Rocky Ridge delighted Laura. When Dr. and Mrs. E. J. Failing of Arlington, South Dakota, made an unexpected call, Laura was overcome with emotion. Hazel Gilbert Failing was the daughter of David Gilbert, a young homesteader and mail carrier mentioned in The Long Winter. Laura reminisced about each member of the Gilbert family, and confided her secret crush on Fred, one of the brothers. Her pleasure spilled over in a letter to Ursula Nordstrom.
MARCH 14, 1953
Dear Ursula Nordstrom,
I am pleased that Virginia Kirkus is taking an interest in the new edition of the Little House books. Please give her my regards.
I hope you will approve of the enclosed letter about the books. Use whatever part of it you wish and if you are not pleased with it, I will try again.
Our Spring seems to have arrived early. Weather is delightful. My health continues good and I enjoy being well and active.
I had a surprise visit this week from a daughter of one of the boys in my old crowd in “Little Town on the Prairie.” She and her husband came from Arlington, near De Smet, to see me, because of the books. She said her father had told her much the same stories. He was not married when we left De Smet and has been gone for years. Seeing her and talking over the old times made the book come alive again.
Forgive me for rambling on like this.
Best regards to you and your office force.
Sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
It was a lovely place
In 1946 Harold and Della Gordon purchased the Plum Creek farm where the Ingalls family had lived in the 1870s. The next year Garth Williams called, camera and sketchbook in hand. He told the Gordons he was illustrating a new edition of On the Banks of Plum Creek. From that time on, the Gordons combined farming with hospitality, as thousands of Little House fans sought out the dugout site. Della Gordon wrote to Laura about the farm, and later remarked, “We had no idea the soil here was so rich in history.”
MARCH 20, 1953
Dear Mrs. Gordon,
Indeed I am glad to know of your purchase of our old farm on Plum Creek.
It was a lovely place and I often think of it even yet and of the happy times I had playing along and in the creek.
Thank you for writing telling me about it.
With kindest regards and all good wishes.
Sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I hope you will appreciate your gifts
MAY 1, 1953
Sixth Grade
Peabody School
Dear Children,
Thank you for your nice letters. There are so many of you I can’t write to each one separately, so this letter is for all of you. I am glad you like my stories and as you notice how much less I had than you have now, I hope you will appreciate your gifts. But remember it is not the things you have that make you happy. It is love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good.
I think you have a very nice teacher to read you the books you like. I wish you a happy vacation and with love to you all I am
Your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
About the minstrel song
The minstrel show depicted in Little Town on the Prairie was a popular entertainment on stages across America at the time. Both Ursula Nordstrom and Laura Ingalls Wilder discussed possible racist overtones of the song lyrics while the definitive edition of Little Town on the Prairie was being prepared.
MAY 21, 1953
Dear Miss Nordstrom,
Your letter with proofs came on yesterday’s mail, but as I was away from home all day, I did not get it until this morning. Sorry to have missed a mail with my answer.
I think the words I have added to Galley 20 will prevent any misunderstanding about the upstairs in Pa’s building.
The upstairs was an attic. As corrected it reads, “upstairs to the hollow, hot bedrooms under the eaves of the shingle roof.”
About the minstrel song. It is an old song and was sung as written. I don’t see how it can be changed but the whole song can be omitted or the part mentioning “coons.” Do as you think best. It seems no one should be offended at the term “darkies.”
Cut out the whole song if you wish.
Sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
The books are beautiful
Ursula Nordstrom was so elated by Laura’s complimentary letter that she sent copies to Garth Williams, Virginia Kirkus, and Raymond Harwood, vice president of Harper & Brothers.
JUNE 6, 1953
Dear Miss Nordstrom,
Thank you so much for the copies of “On the Banks of Plum Creek” and “Little House in the Big Woods.”
Though unbound the latter is still my favorite of all!
The books are beautiful and I am so pleased with them.
The illustrations seem to bring the characters to life. Garth has done a grand job in these two books and I am impatient to see the others.
A friend, who has been waiting for the new edition to buy the complete set for her two boys, looked at the books yesterday. She said she is glad she waited and that these books are more than worth the difference in price from the ol
d edition.
Again thanking you and with kindest regards,
Your Laura Ingalls Wilder
They are beautiful books
JULY 20, 1953
Dear Miss Nordstrom,
In the mail this morning were the four books, Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy, and On the Banks of Plum Creek.
Thank you! They are beautiful books.
There is a mistake in Little House on the Prairie.
Chapters 15 and 16—Fever ’n Ague and Fire in the Chimney are printed twice. . . .
This might escape your notice [. . .]
It is fine of you and Mr. Sherwood
Hazel Gilbert Failing and Aubrey Sherwood envisioned a memorial to the Ingalls family at their old homestead near De Smet. Through Hazel’s urging, Edward and Opal May, owners of the land, deeded a corner of the property to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society. Aubrey Sherwood located a prairie boulder near Spirit Lake to serve as a monument, and he wrote a text for the marker.
JULY 27, 1953
Dear Hazel,
I thank you a lot for the pictures, especially the one of your father. . . .
Of course I would be willing and appreciative of a memorial to the Ingalls family, but I fear a duplicate of the claim shanty would not be attractive to sight-seers.
You will find an exact description of it in Chapter 29 of By the Shores of Silver Lake. My memory will yield no more details. I can describe it no better.
It is fine of you and Mr. Sherwood to attempt to commemorate the memory of De Smet pioneers and in your choosing of my family I am greatly honored.
Thanking you again for the pictures and with kindest regards,
Your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder Page 31