A short life of the author
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) was born on 7 February 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin. She lived the life she wrote about: her family moved from Wisconsin to Kansas to Minnesota to South Dakota, farming and homesteading across the frontier.
Life and Career
Wilder did not begin writing her novels until she was sixty-five. Little House in the Big Woods (1932) — about her early childhood in Wisconsin — was her first book, published with the help of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who served as editor and collaborator (the extent of Rose’s contributions remains debated by scholars).
The series follows Laura from early childhood through courtship, marriage, and early adulthood: Little House on the Prairie (1935), On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), The Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941), These Happy Golden Years (1943), and The First Four Years (published posthumously, 1971).
Major Works and Themes
Wilder wrote about self-reliance, family, the American frontier, and the rhythms of rural life — planting, harvesting, building, surviving winters. The books are not naive — The Long Winter is a harrowing account of a town nearly destroyed by blizzards — but they carry a deep faith in hard work and family.
Key Works
- Little House in the Big Woods (1932)
- The Long Winter (1940)
Collecting Wilder
First editions illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle (Harper, 1930s–1940s) are the most valuable. Little House in the Big Woods first edition brings $2,000–$5,000 in fine condition with dust jacket. Garth Williams illustrated editions (1953) are separately collected. Wilder died in 1957.