Wilder memoir to give gritty view of prairie life

  • By Kevin Burbach Associated Press
  • Monday, August 18, 2014 11:47am
  • LifeGo-See-Do

PIERRE, S.D. — Laura Ingalls Wilder penned one of the most beloved children’s series of the 20th century, but her forthcoming autobiography will show devoted “Little House on the Prairie” fans a more realistic, grittier view of frontier living.

“Prairie Girl: The Annotated Autobiography” — Wilder’s unedited draft that was written for an adult audience and eventually served as the foundation for the popular series — is slated to be released by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press nationwide this fall. The not-safe-for-children tales include stark scenes of domestic abuse, love triangles gone awry and a man who lit himself on fire while drunk off whiskey.

Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, herself a well-known author, tried and failed to get an edited version of the autobiography published throughout the early 1930s. The original rough draft has been preserved at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, for decades but hadn’t been published.

The children’s series never presented a romanticized version of life on the prairie — in “Little House in the Big Woods,” Laura and her sister Mary gleefully help dissect the family pig before bouncing its inflated bladder back and forth in the yard. But the series also left out or fictionalized scenes that publishers deemed unsuitable for kids, including much of the time the family spent in Burr Oak, Iowa, and Walnut Grove, Minnesota, according to Pamela Smith Hill, a Wilder biographer and the lead editor on the autobiography.

“So you can read ‘Pioneer Girl’ as nonfiction rather than fiction and get a better feeling of how the historical Ingalls family really lived, what their relationships were and how they experienced the American West,” she said.

Wilder details a scene from her childhood in Burr Oak, in which a neighbor of the Ingalls’ pours kerosene throughout his bedroom, sets it on fire and proceeds to drunkenly drag his wife around by her hair before Wilder’s father — Pa in the children’s books — intervenes.

Scenes like that make Wilder’s memoir sound like it’s filled with scandal and mature themes, “which isn’t exactly true either,” according to Amy Lauters, an associate professor of mass media at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

“It’s just that that first version was blunt, it was honest. It was full of the everyday sorts of things that we don’t care to think about when we think about history,” said Lauters, who has read the original manuscript and also is writing a book on Rose Wilder Lane. “And it’s certainly not the fantasized version we saw on ‘Little House on the Prairie’ the television show.”

Wilder’s story will likely do well in South Dakota, since the author moved to De Smet in the late 1870s with her family, eventually meeting her future husband there.

For fans, the autobiography is chance to see from where Wilder drew her inspiration, said Sandra Hume, a Wilder aficionado who published an internationally distributed newsletter for 10 years and now helps manage Laurapalooza, a conference dedicated to all things Wilder.

“I am very excited to see people have access to this, because her life story has been pretty muddled because people get mixed up with the TV show and it’s nice to see an interest in people seeing basically what is the primary source …” she said.

The autobiography preserves Wilder’s original rough draft — misspellings, idiosyncrasies and all — but adds extensive annotations.

“Little House” lovers can learn about the three girls that Wilder combined to create the Nellie Olson character, or how extensive the damage was in Minnesota during the grasshopper plague of the 1870s, which forced Pa in “On the Banks of Plum Creek” to set out in search of work.

“In some ways, I came to think of the annotations in ‘Pioneer Girl’ as almost an encyclopedia about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life and work,” Hill said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Emma Corbilla Doody and her husband, Don Doody, inside  their octagonal library at the center of their octagon home on Thursday, May 2, 2024 in Sultan, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Is this Sultan octagon the ugliest house in America?

Emma Corbilla Doody and Don Doody bought the home for $920,000 last year. Not long after, HGTV came calling.

Mickey Mouse and Buddha are among this bracelet’s 21 charms. But why?

This piece’s eclectic mix of charms must say something about its former owner. Regardless, it sold for $1,206 at auction.

Great Plant Pick: Pond cypress

What: This selection of pond cypress (Taxodium distichum var. imbricatum ‘Nutans’) is… Continue reading

From lilacs to peonies, pretty flowers make the perfect Mother’s Day gift

Carnations may be the official Mother’s Day flower, but many others will also make Mom smile. Here are a few bright ideas.

Maximum towing capacity of the 2024 Toyota Tundra Hybrid is 11,450 pounds, depending on 4x2 or 4x4, trim level, and bed length. The Platinum trim is shown here. (Toyota)
Toyota Tundra Hybrid powertrain overpowers the old V8 and new V6

Updates for the 2024 full-sized pickup include expansion of TRD Off-Road and Nightshade option packages.

2024 Ford Ranger SuperCrew 4X4 XLT (Photo provided by Ford)
2024 Ford Ranger SuperCrew 4X4 XLT

Trucks comes in all shapes and sizes these days. A flavor for… Continue reading

Modern-day Madrid is a pedestrian mecca filled with outdoor delights

In the evenings, walk the city’s car-free streets alongside the Madrileños. Then, spend your days exploring their parks.

Burnout is a slow burn. Keep your cool by snuffing out hotspots early

It’s important to recognize the symptoms before they take root. Fully formed, they can take the joy out of work and life.

Budget charges me a $125 cleaning fee for the wrong vehicle!

After Budget finds animal hairs in Bernard Sia’s rental car, it charges him a $125 cleaning fee. But Sia doesn’t have a pet.

Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

The Grand Kyiv Ballet performs Thursday in Arlington, and Elvis impersonators descend on Everett this Saturday.

Penny Clark, owner of Travel Time of Everett Inc., at her home office on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In a changing industry, travel agents ‘so busy’ navigating modern travel

While online travel tools are everywhere, travel advisers still prove useful — and popular, says Penny Clark, of Travel Time in Arlington.

An example of delftware, this decorative plate sports polychrome blooms

Delft is a type of tin-glazed earthenware pottery born in Holland. This 16th century English piece sold for $3,997 at auction.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.