The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder

by William Anderson

  The new edition has created quite a lot of interest

  The important Kirkus Reviews printed a complimentary review of the new Little House editions. This endorsement assured widespread acceptance of the republication of the series. At Ursula Nordstrom’s request, Laura composed a simple endorsement. She wrote: “Mary, Laura and their folks live again in these illustrations.”

  AUGUST 13, 1953

  Dear Miss Nordstrom,

  Your wire and the Kirkus report both reached me last yesterday. . . . I hope the wire just sent is what you wanted. It is the best I know how to do.

  Miss Kirkus’s report is wonderful. Please give her my best regards.

  The new edition has created quite a lot of interest. Should go over great.

  Kindest regards. . . .

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  They do look strange

  AUGUST 19, 1953

  Dear Miss Russell,

  Thanks a lot for the copies of the Chinese edition of Little House in the Big Woods. They do look strange, but seem to get the spirit of the stories in illustration.

  Best regards to yourself and others in your office.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Great interest in the new edition

  To mark the republication of the Little House books, the Horn Book Magazine dedicated its December 1953 issue to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Garth Williams wrote of his experiences illustrating the books, Virginia Kirkus described her role in bringing them to publication, and other writers contributed their perspectives on what made it “Christmas all the time” in the Little House books.

  SEPTEMBER 24, 1953

  Dear Ursula Nordstrom,

  It is indeed grand news about the Christmas Horn Book. Thank you for telling me of it at once.

  Mrs. Hatfield of Brown’s Book Store in Springfield, has asked me to come to the store and autograph the new books as I did last year. But I am not able to stand a day of excitement and writing so many autographs. I have told her I will write, at home, as many autographs as she wants for her to paste in the books.

  There seems to be a great interest in the new edition and the Christmas Horn Book should add to it. I am so pleased about it.

  With kindest regards,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I am thrilled

  Jennie Lindquist, a Harper children’s author, was also the editor of the Horn Book Magazine. She requested Laura’s famous gingerbread recipe to include in the magazine.

  OCTOBER 19, 1953

  Dear Miss Lindquist,

  Miss Nordstrom has told me of your plan for the Christmas Horn Book. I am thrilled and in a hurry for Christmas time to come that I may see it.

  You may use my letter to Clarence E. Kilburn, copy of which you enclosed, if you wish. . . .

  I enclose my old gingerbread recipe and wish good luck if you should try it.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  They surely deserve some reward

  NOVEMBER 12, 1953

  Dear Miss Nordstrom,

  You may like to send something to the school of the enclosed letter. I have written them that I sent this letter to you.

  They surely deserve some reward for living in a place called Bad Axe [Michigan].

  Kindest regards to you and your office staff.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  New edition is so well launched

  DECEMBER 31, 1953

  Dear Miss Nordstrom,

  Thank you for the books. They look as though they are very interesting.

  I thought the enclosed letter might interest you and please tell me if you want me to send you my fan letters.

  Geo. Bye has turned over to you somewhere less than a carload, but now that the new edition is so well launched I think perhaps you will not care for more. . . .

  Nice of the kids to buy it for me

  Laura enclosed this undated 1954 note to Rose with a letter from Helen Carpenter, who taught near Malone, New York. Students were so keen to see the Farmer Boy site that Mrs. Carpenter arranged a bus trip to the Wilder farm. The class members collected their spare change to send Laura a gift—some locally produced maple syrup.

  Rose Dear,

  I thought you would like to see the enclosed letter and pictures. After you have looked at them I think they should go to George Bye for Harpers. Please do send them.

  I hope you are well of your cold.

  If you don’t feel like writing tell Lydia to let me know how you are.

  ½ gallon of maple syrup came and I’m eating it clear it is so good. Nice of the kids to buy it for me.

  Lots of love,

  Mama Bess

  The publicity is great

  Sales of the new edition of the Little House books soared during the 1953 holidays. Garth Williams’s illustrations were accepted overwhelmingly. Clara Webber wrote from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Room of the Pomona library, giving her congratulations. She enclosed a swatch of Grandma Moses material, reminiscent of Little House stories, which was used for draperies in the library room. Laura draped it over a chair back in her sitting room.

  JANUARY 2, 1954

  Dear Miss Webber,

  Please forgive delay in answering your letter. I am glad you like the new edition of the Little House books. The publicity is great.

  Sample of cloth you used in your library room came and I thank you for sending it. It is so amusing and fits the stories perfectly. I didn’t suppose such picture cloth was made.

  I wish you and your little friends a Happy New Year,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Glad to have you call me Laura

  JANUARY 25, 1954

  Dear Karen,

  Thank you for the sampler you worked so nicely. The sentiment is perfectly true. I am sure you are a busy girl with so many hobbies to keep you interested.

  I am glad you love my books and me and am glad to have you call me Laura.

  “Free Land” is another of my daughter’s books I’m sure you would like. “Let the Hurricane Roar” is pure fiction. It has no connection whatever with my family. Her use of Pa’s and Ma’s names was unfortunate.

  I have the verse “If wisdom’s ways you wisely seek” in my old autograph album and it has always been a favorite of mine.

  [Laura continues her letter with information on the later lives of her family members.]

  Thanking you again for the pretty sampler, I am with love

  Your friend,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  The award will be made in your name

  On Laura’s eighty-seventh birthday, a Western Union telegram arrived at Rocky Ridge announcing the establishment of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. Ursula Nordstrom, attending a conference in Chicago, was ecstatic over the news. “I’m so happy about this recognition for her wonderful books,” she gloated. “And it is wonderful that such an award will bear her sacred name.” Laura shared the news with Rose.

  TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1954

  Rose Dearest,

  When I go to town tomorrow I will send you the watch, insured mail. The charm is still attached to it. I was afraid to try to take it off. If the jeweler wants to, he can take it off and throw it away, just so he fixes the watch. The little broken off stem is with the watch. I’m so glad you said to send the watch and hope it can be fixed. I do apologize to the jeweler for such an abuse of his fine work.

  Your card came yesterday. I have been thinking and saying that Sunday was my 86th birthday, but it was my 87th, so now I am 87 years old. Seems I’ve had an extra year I didn’t know about. Or have I lost a year? It is too much for me to figure.

  This day is hot with just a tiny breeze. Tomorrow is to be a little cooler. No rain in sight. I daren’t take off my woolens and they are too hot.

  Here is the copy of the wire from California.

  Glendale, Calif.

  Laura Ingalls Wilder, Phone of dlr today sure, Charges gtd. Rocky Ridge Fa
rm, Mansfield, Mo.

  We are honored to confer upon you an award for the lasting contribution which your books have made to literature for children. In future years the award will be made in your name and be called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. The award will be made at the American Library Association conference in June 1954.

  Birthday greetings to you,

  Rosemary Livsey, chairman, Children’s Library Association

  Should I send the telegram to George Bye?

  I’m going now and give myself a manicure, then I will rest a bit I think.

  Lots of love,

  Mama Bess

  Everyone is so glad I am 87 years old

  When Rose visited Rocky Ridge she flew into the airport at Springfield, Missouri, and was met by Laura and her driver, Jim Hartley.

  FEBRUARY 17, 1954

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  Enclosed, the telegram you wanted.

  Thanks for your congrats.

  There is some advantage in being my age. Everyone is so glad I am 87 years old. I have had two birthday dinners in celebration while cards and gifts are still overloading my mail.

  I am going to Springfield with taxi tomorrow to meet Rose and like “Little Annie Rooney” I am jittery.

  Kindest regards to Mrs. Bye and yourself.

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I am rather overwhelmed by it all

  FEBRUARY 26, 1954

  Dear Miss Nordstrom,

  Thank you for your kind offer to help me make the trip to Minneapolis, but my health will not permit me to go.

  I have to avoid excitement and receiving the Laura Ingalls Wilder award in person would be exciting to say the least, so I must stay quietly at home.

  I am rather overwhelmed by it all and greatly pleased.

  In my office are between 6 & 7 hundred letters from readers of the books that I am not up to answering, so they will not be answered.

  With kindest regards,

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Someone who once lived in Walnut Grove

  Laura was always pleased by letters from her childhood homes. Mrs. Eugene Pollard, a librarian in Marshall, Minnesota, mentioned that she had been a member of the Congregational Church in Walnut Grove, where Laura had been a Sunday school pupil.

  MARCH 1, 1954

  Dear Mrs. Pollard,

  Your letter is very interesting and it is nice to hear from someone who once lived in Walnut Grove.

  I am enclosing an autograph for you to paste in your copy of “On the Banks of Plum Creek.” Sorry I have no photo I can send but am referring your letter to Harpers and am sure they will send you one.

  With kindest regards,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Keeping as quiet as I can

  When the Twentieth Century Club in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, learned that Laura Ingalls Wilder would be honored in Minneapolis at the American Library Association meeting in June, they hoped to entertain her in her old hometown.

  APRIL 12, 1954

  Dear Mrs. Christensen,

  Thank you for your kind invitation to visit Walnut Grove. I would love to do so but I am not going to Minneapolis and so will not be in Minnesota.

  At 87 I find my traveling days are over and I must obey my Dr. by keeping as quiet as I can.

  With kindest regards to you and your club members I remain

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I miss him a lot when I go to town

  Ralph Watters edited the Mansfield Mirror from 1936 to 1954. He and Laura Ingalls Wilder were close friends. Her Wednesday trips to town included visits to the newspaper office. Mr. Watters understood her literary career and her passion for current events. Laura was fascinated with the 1950s obsession with flying saucers. A misplaced book on the topic prompted this letter to Jay George, Ralph Watters’s brother-in-law.

  MAY 2, 1954

  Dear Mr. George,

  I am sorry my book and I caused you so much trouble and no apology was needed from you.

  It is mysterious how the “Flying Saucers” disappeared and reappeared. Just living up to their name I guess.

  Please give my kindest regards and good wishes to your brother Ralph. I miss him a lot when I go to town. I always enjoyed meeting you and hope we may not altogether lose touch with each other.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I send my autograph

  MAY 31, 1954

  Dear Dr. Kerlan,

  Thanks for your congratulations on the award [The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award] given my books.

  However I am sorry to say I will not be able to receive the award in person. Being 87 years old with a tired heart I have to avoid excitement even if pleasant.

  The manuscripts of my books have been placed in libraries named for me.

  It is difficult for me to rewrap and mail books sent me to be autographed. Instead I send my autograph to be pasted in the books. Eight are enclosed.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  A tribute to the past and a hope for the future

  Ursula Nordstrom wrote Garth Williams that the Wilder Award “certainly wouldn’t have been thought up and inaugurated right now if your pictures . . . hadn’t been so perfect that the beauty of the Wilder books was brought anew to influential persons.” She also asked Garth to design the award’s medal. He agreed, and the finished medal was finally delivered to Laura in 1955.

  JUNE 7, 1954

  Dear Miss Nordstrom,

  I hope you will approve the note of acceptance. This is all new to me and I am perhaps rather stupid.

  As to sending Pa’s fiddle to the meeting, I would rather not have it take the chances of shipment. There is always a risk in the shipment and no amount of insurance could recompense for its being damaged or lost. I would rather it remained safely where it is in its glass case.

  Would it not answer to have one or more of Pa’s old songs played on another violin. There are so many and I loved them all. It is hard to choose my favorite.

  “Auld Lang Syne” that Pa sings at the end of “Little House in the Big Woods” would be very appropriate. For a lighter touch, “Pop Goes the Weasel” or “Captain Jinks.”

  It may be difficult to find someone who can play the old tunes but Pa’s favorite hymn is still sung. It is “The Sweet by and By.”

  I would so like to be there, but as I cannot I would love to have some of Pa’s old songs played as a greeting from me.

  If two could be played I would like the first to be “Auld Lang Syne” and the second “The Sweet By and By.” A tribute to the past and a hope for the future.

  Last week I autographed four sets of the books.

  With kindest regards and all good wishes.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Vermont sounds wonderful

  Alfred and Lydia Morgan were Rose’s Danbury friends. They made two car trips with Rose to visit on Rocky Ridge in the 1950s; Laura also grew fond of them. The Freemans mentioned in this letter—Verne and George—were Mansfield friends of Rose’s.

  JUNE 13, 1954

  Dear Lydia,

  This is a warm Sunday morning. It will be 90 again as it has been for several days.

  Thank you so much for your letter telling me that Rose is well. It was and is so wonderful that her back is well. I do hope she will be careful to keep it so.

  I am sorry Al has not been well and glad he is himself again and that your son is improving in health.

  I am quite well usually but must be slow and careful to keep that way. There are days when I lie down most of the time to let my old, tired heart rest.

  I autographed 18 books yesterday and 2 the day before.

  Wednesday in town I saw Verne and George. They are well as usual.

  We have had some rain but not enough and now it looks as though we will have a dry spell. The tourist rush has begun and every day there are accidents and peo
ple killed on the highways. There seems to be no way to stop it. Your description of the place in Vermont sounds wonderful. It would be so good to be out of traffic.

  My hand is tired and I have more letters I must write, so good bye. With love to you both,

  Laura I. Wilder

  If I should come to the Newbery-Caldecott dinner

  JUNE 24, 1954

  Dear Miss Wakefield,

  Your letter should have been answered sooner, but was carelessly mislaid and only read this morning. Please forgive me.

  Your letter is very interesting. How well I remember that old store on the shore of Lake Pepin and how beautiful the lake was.

  Thank you so much for your kind offer to meet and entertain me if I should come to the Newbery-Caldecott dinner. It is sweet of you and much appreciated.

  I am sorry but I am not able to be there. My doctor says my heart is tired and orders me to be as quiet as possible.

  With thanks and all good wishes,

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  You will be illustrating books someday

  The children’s letters never stopped filling the Wilder mailbox.

  JULY 12, 1954

  Dear Sharon,

  Thank you so much for the picture you made of Mary and Laura in the store. It is wonderful that you should have remembered everything so perfectly. You will be illustrating books someday I’m sure. I am glad you like my stories and hope you will read all the books.

  Love,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  More mail than I can answer now

  AUGUST 12, 1954

  Dear Miss Wakefield,

  Thank you for your letter and the picture of the Carpenter family. [The Carpenters were first cousins of Laura Ingalls Wilder.]