Died with no heirs the execute for of her estate saw the folder upon folder of material dealing with Herbert Hoover and contacted the library. Of course, the archivists were interested and the collection was donated. Little did they know that it also contained important correspondence between lane and her famous mother as well as drafts of her mothers writings including a version of her own published autobiography. For decades fans have trucked to west branch like pilgrims seeking the holy grail. Theyve asked to see the big chief tablets that contain wilders drafts and our copy of the autobiography. Were indeed fortunate to have with us today Pamela Smith Hill who has recently published the autobiography. Laura ingalls wilder, pioneer girl the annotated auto autobiography, came out last fall and immediately sold out the first printing of 15,000 copies. Its now on the ninth printing and still selling strong. It took years of research, examining the various drafts of pioneer girl in different repositories and then painstakingly providing the invaluable an notations to guide the reader through the thickets of various place names, individuals and events. The result is a definitive work that will be cherished by all little house readers. By happenstance, we happen to have a supply for sale. In our museum store and the author has kindly consented to signing them for you. Pamela smith hill was born and reared in the ozarks in part explaining her interest in wilder. She grew up 40 miles from Rocky Ridge Farm and as she explained launched writing career not far away. Shes the Award Winning author of a writers life and three historical novels for young adults ghost horses, the last grail keeper and the voice from the border. Hill has taught creative writing at universities of oregon, washington, and colorado as well as an online course on Laura Ingalls wilder. Shes working on several historical fiction novels for young adults. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Pamela Smith Hill. Thank you all so much for coming. Im really gratified and surprised to see hutch such a full house. I also want to say before i get started today that the idea for pioneer girl originated here in the archive room at the hoover. So, it is especially gratifying to be back here today to talk about the book. Last summer the Associated Press and Publishers Weekly broke the news that pioneer girl the previously unpublished autobiography was soon to be published. According to the Associated Press, the book was a more realistic, grittier view of frontier living. Associated press reporter Kevin Burbach went on to say that the book included not safe for children tales and stark scenes of domestic abuse, love triangles gone awry, and a man who lit himself on fire while drunk on whiskey. News outlets from across the United States and beyond from the New York Times to National Public radio from the Christian Science monitor to the guardian in the uk picked up the story. And by the time the book was published last november, reporters and most reviewers alike continued to focus on the dark side of wilders world. The headline from the wall street journal, a grim house on the prairie. Was i surprised by the spin the media placed on pioneer girl all this frenzy about the dark disturbing scenes depicted in the autobiography . Frankly, yes. Because from my perspective anyway there is so much more to pioneer girl than what the Associated Press reporter described as those not safe for children tales. In fact, id spent several hours talking to that a. P. Reporter about so much more than the manuscripts grit and scandal. Why had he zeroed in on that aspect of pioneer girl . It was a relatively small part of the interview. The obvious answer, of course, is that Popular Culture thrives on grit and scandal. I should have known. But beyond that, there was the implication that wilder had whitewashed her life in the little house books, that she had covered up the truth when he transitioned from the nonfiction of pioneer girl to the fiction of the little house series. One reviewer from my hometown in portland, oregon, called this a glaring distortion. Certainly wilder made significant changes when she shifted from writing nonfiction to fiction. More about this later. But i came to realize as more stories and reviews about pioneer girl were featured in the national and International Press that much of the medias obsession over wilders dark side was related not to little house novels themselves but to the Television Series. What youre seeing here is the front page of a french language newspaper published in switzerland in december. A rough translation of the front page text here, the true history of laura and little house on the prairie but notice the photograph is of Melissa Gilbert, the actress who played laura on tv, not the real Laura Ingalls wilder. To be fair the newspaper later did include historical photographs of laura. But the image of Melissa Gilbert appeared on the front page to heighten the contrast between the realities of pioneer girl and the fiction of little house on the prairie. And images of the tv series are references to it surfaced again and again when reporters and reviewers contrasted wilders realworld experiences in pioneer girl with the fictional ones. Why is it significant . Does it matter that reporters and reviewers are focused on the Television Series versus wilders books when drawing comparisons to pioneer girl . First, a few words about the Television Series. The Television Series little house on the prairie ran on nbc from 1974 until 1982. And the show remains in syndication today. It won emmys for its cinematography and music and tv guide named one of its episodes to its list of 100 greatest episodes of alltime. The show was incredibly popular and successful. But it is a highly reimagined interpretation of wilders original books. For one thing, theres the cast itself. You can tell who the real Charles Ingalls is here. Theres no question. In general, the characters in the tv series are softer, more sentimental, less rough around the edges, less gritty than the fictional characters in wilders books, more about this in a minute. Even the setting is radically different. The tv family settles in walnut grove, minnesota. Yet wilder herself wrote just one book on the banks of plum creek about the fictional familys experiences there. Both the real ingalls family and the fictional ones from the books moved to dakota territory and wilder set five of her nine books there. In fact, four of these five books were finalists for the covet eed newberry award. They are considered wilders strongest books and yet the setting of these books along with many of their most memorable scenes and episodes werent part of the tv series. And the tv show took lots of liberties with the characters, scenes and episodes from the books that they did include. Heres just one example. In real life, in wilders fiction and in the tv series, mary ingalls lost her sight and, in fact, the real ingalls family sent mary to the college of the blind in vinton, iowa. She graduated from there in 1889. But unlike her television counterpart the real mary ingalls and the fictional character in the books never married. She lived out her life in south dakota in the house Charles Ingalls built for his family there. The tv series gave mary a happier, rosier, more conventional future. She falls in love and gets married on the television show. In general, the tv series casts a happier, rosier and more conventional glow over all of wilders characters. Now, the tv series has become iconic in its own right. And in many ways appears to have overshadowed wilders books. When reporters and reviewers observe that the autobiography contrasts with the bright and sunny optimism of the little house books, i suspect theyre unconsciously referring to the tv show. They may not be aware of scenes like this from the book. In on the banks of plum creek laura is nearly drowned when she tries to cross the flooded creek. The scene, however, isnt simply about danger or disobedience. As youll see in a minute, laura doesnt learn from this episode that she should always obey her parents. Instead she learns something darker, more subtle, even more sophisticated. Lets take a look at this scene. Initially, the creek seems to laugh and call to laura beckoning her to come and play. So, she clasps her hands on the plank and rolls onto it. In that very instant, she knew the creek was not playing. It was strong and terrible. It seized her whole body and pulled it under the plank. Only her head was out. And one arm desperately across the narrow plank. The water was pulling her and it was pushing, too. It was trying to drag her head under the plank. Her chin held on to the edge and her arm clutched while the water pulled hard at the rest of her. It was not laughing now. No one knew where she was. No one could hear her if she screamed for help. The water roared loud and tugged at her stronger and stronger. Laura kicked, but the water was stronger than her legs. She got both arms across the plank and pulled. But the water pulled harder. It pulled back it pulled the back of her head down and it jerked as if it would jerk her in two. It was cold. The coldness soaked into her. This was not like wolves or cattle. The creek was not alive. It was only strong and terrible and never stopping. It would pull her down and whirl her away rolling and tossing her like a willow branch. It would not care. Notice the line here, it would not care. The Natural World is ambivalent. It doesnt care about laura or any human endeavor. Nature isnt simply warm and sunny and beautiful in wilders books. It can be dangerous, cruel, and even deadly. How does the scene end . Laura escapes, and ma hopes the incident will teach laura a lesson, she says. Well, laura, you have been very naughty, and i think you knew it all the time. But i cant punish you. I cant even scold you. You came near being drowned. Now, if the scene had ended here, with the expected moral lesson, obey your parents, it would have been more conventional. Perhaps the kind of episode many reporters and reviewers assume fill the pages of wilders little house books, but this isnt where the scene ends. Laura did not say anything. The creek would go down. It would be a gentle, Pleasant Place to play in again. But nobody could make it do that. Nobody could make it do anything. Laura knew now that there were things stronger than anybody, but the creek had not got her. It had not made her scream, and it could not make her cry. Laura is a very tough and unyielding little girl. She is unrepenunrepentant. She has grit in a world that is sometimes dark and ambivalent. Heres another scene from yet another little house book that speaks to a seamier side of life. Another scene that might surprise those reporters and reviewers who think wilder books are consistent lly sunny and bright. The one im going to share with you is from the little town on the prairie when laura is working in town hoping her wages will help pay for Marys College expenses. She makes buttonholes for mrs. White who lives and works in her soninlaws store. His name is mr. Clancy, so lets dive in and take a look at the scene. When the big man had gone on, mr. Clancy asked mrs. White when his shirts would be done. Mrs. White said she did not know which shirts they were. Then mr. Clancy swore. Laura scrooged small in her chair. Think of that verb scrooged. Brilliant, brilliant verb choice for all you writers out there. Laura scrooged small in her chair, basting as fast as she could. Mr. Clancy snatched shirts from the pile and almost threw them at mrs. White. Still shouting and swearing. She said shed get them done before dinner or shed know the reason why. Ill not be driven and hounded, mrs. White blazed, not by you or any other shanty irishman. Laura hardly heard what mr. Clancy said then. She wanted desperately to be somewhere else. But mrs. White told her to come along to dinner. They went into the kitchen behind the store and mr. Clancy came raging after them. Lunchtime, however, provides no relief. The kitchen was hot and crowded and cluttered. Mrs. Clancy was putting dinner on the table and three little girls and a boy were pushing each other off their chairs. Mr. And mrs. Clancy and mrs. White all quarrelling at the top of their voices sat down and ate heartily. Laura could not even understand what they were quarrelling about. They seemed so angry that she was afraid they would strike each other. Now, theres obviously an element of dark humor here. But this is clearly a dysfunctional family. How does laura respond . She continues to work through the day. Its her first day on the job, in fact. The hours are long. Her shoulders and neck ache. Her fingers ache, too, from working a needle for hour after hour. But she does the work without complaint. When pa comes to walk her home at sunset, he asks, how did you like your first day of working for pay, half pint . You make out all right . I think so, she answered. Mrs. White spoke well of my buttonholes. She doesnt breathe a word to pa or anyone else in the family about the extraordinarily uncomfortable position she now finds herself in. She thinks only about the money she could possibly earn for Marys College. Laura is a tough little girl on the banks of plum creek shes a tough young woman in little town on the prairie. The clancy isnt the only dysfunctional family wilder depicts in the little house books, theres the brewster family in these happy golden years and this mythic scene in the book. Mrs. Brewster and the butcher knife. In this scene laura is Teaching School for the first time and boarding with mr. And mrs. Brewster in an isolated claim shanty 12 miles from home. Laura is just 15. Laura set straight up. Moonlight was streaming over her bed from the window. Mrs. Brewster screamed again, a wild sound without words that made lauras scalp crinkle. Heres another wonderful detail for your writers out there, lauras scalp crinkled. Take the knife back to the kitchen. Laura peeked through the crack between the curtains. The moonlight shone through the calico and thinned the darkness so that laura saw mrs. Brewster standing there. Her long, white flannel nightgown trailed on the floor and her black hair fell loose over her shoulders. In her upraised hand she held the butcher knife. Ultimately mr. Brewster convinces his wife to put the knife away. But laura spends a sleepless night on the slippery couch behind the curtains just a few feet away from the brewsters. And in the end laura reaches this conclusion she knew that she must not be afraid. Pa had always said she must never be afraid. Very likely nothing would happen. She was not exactly afraid of mrs. Brewster, for she knew she was quick and strong as a Little French horse, that is when she was awake. But she had never wanted so much to go home. Yet as we all know laura finishes the term and she tells her family nothing about that butcher knife. Now, the scene may seem very tame by todays standards in young adult literature. But in the early 1940s wilders depiction of mrs. Brewster and the butcher knife was both daring and edgy. After she submitted the manuscript to her publisher, her literary agent wrote, ms. Nordstrom is suggesting that mrs. Brewsters butcher knife incident be cut out. She was wilders editor at harper and brothers her publi publish publisher. She went on to become a wellknown literary figure in her own right. She edited the work of e. B. White, author of charlottes web and Maurice Sendak who gave the world where the wild things are. But as innovative as she went on to become, in 1942 she believed mrs. Brewster in that butcher knife were pushing the envelope on content for Young Readers. Obviously wilder prevailed. The scene remained. But its significant, i think, that the First Edition of these happy golden years illustrated by helen souwell and Mildred Boyle doesnt include an illustration of this scene. An image of mrs. Brewster gai d combined with wilders narrative would have given it too much emphasis and been too dark and disturbing for young adults in 1943, at least from the publishers point of view. This illustration dates from 1953. When wilders publisher issued a new edition of wilders books, illustrated by englishman garth williams. Ten years after the books publication, Young Readers themselves had convinced publishers like harper and brothers that darker, grittier content had its place in young adult literature. Still i think its really important to note that childrens and young adult literature in the 1930s and 1940s when wilder wrote the little house books was much more conservative and restrictive than it is today. Such topics as divorce, sexuality, alcoholism, child abuse, these issues became accepted topics in childrens books much later through the groundbreaking work of judy blum and lea block in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Even marys blindless in the little house books was a somewhat controversial topic in childrens literature in the depression era. Wilders daughter edited her mothers manuscripts and she initially discouraged wilder from including marys blindless in the little house novels. Wilder, however, maintained that a touch of tragedy makes the story truer to life and showing the way we took it, illustrates the spirit of the times and the frontier. In fact, as the fictional Laura Ingalls aged in the series wilder fought to keep more mature scenes and episodes in the book over her daughters objections, lane apparently believed that teenage main characters had no place in books for Young Readers in the 1930s and early 1940s. She even suggested that wilder switch main characters from laura to kerry to avoid more adult themes and ideas in the final little house books. Wilder disagreed. I dont see how we can spare what you call adult stuff for that makes the story. It was there and laura knew and understood it. We cant spoil the story by making it childish. Clearly by literary standards of the 1930s and 1940s, wilder didnt whitewash her fiction for Young Readers. She didnt sanitize her story for them, by writing tough, sometimes dark scenes that dealt with dysfunctional families, disease and mythic struggles on the frontier, she was blazing a new trail in childrens and young Adult Fiction in the 1930s and 1940s. In fact, wilders greatest artistic achievement the long winter is extraordinarily dark and focuses on the fictional familys struggle against isolation, cold, and starvation. It was very adult stuff for Young Readers when it was First Published in 1940. And it still is. The books original title was the hard winter but wilders publisher feared that title would discourage and perhaps frighten Young Readers away from the book. With regret wilder and even lane agreed to the new and softer title. So, the conventions of childrens and young adult literature were far more restrictive during the depression era and early 40s than they are today. In fact, you could even say that the category of young adult literature wasnt officially recognized until 1958, when the American LibraryAssociation First began using the term young Adult Fiction. Wilder herself had died the year before in 1957, long before the term gained wide acceptance. Now, it is certainly true that wilder chose not to transfer all the experiences she recorded in pioneer girl into her fiction. She didnt write about the birth and death of her baby brother charles frederick, freddie as the family called him. He lived only nine months after a short illness, one awful day she straighten he straightened out his little body and was dead. And wilder chose not to write about the familys decision to move east to burr oak, iowa, after the grasshopper plague in minnesota had pretty much wiped the family out financially. Charles and Caroline Ingalls briefly managed a hotel in burr oak an enterprise that ultimately failed and they returned to minnesota where the family lived in town not on a farm. Why didnt wilder choose to write about these experiences in her little house books . She wrote lane, it is a story in itself but does not belong in the picture i am making of the fictional family. In other words, these episodes didnt serve wilders lager themes, a frontier Family Moving west pursuing agrarian values, finding land in the west and building a new life for themselves there. It wasnt that the material was too adult. Her resistance to include this material from pioneer girl was primarily thematic. Still, theres no question that pioneer girl contains grittier, more adult material than the little house books. In the first place, wilder wrote pioneer girl for an adult audience. This was, after all, her memoir, her personal account of her childhood and adolescence written from an adult perspective for adult readers. Wilder hoped to sell pioneer girl to a Prominent National magazine of the period, perhaps the saturday evening post or the ladies home journal. In those Days National magazines were a significant market for longer form long fiction like pioneer girl as well as short and novellength fiction. Magazines serialized longer man knew scripts. A memoir like pioneer girl might appear in three or four issues of the ladies home journal or saturday evening post. And when longer works of fiction and nonfiction were popular with the magazines readers, writers could then negotiate a book deal with publishers. In essence they could sell their manuscripts twice. Something that was especially appealing to both wilder and lane during the dark early days of the depression. Wilder finished writing pioneer girl in may 1930 a full two years before her first little house book was published. Now, im not going to describe the marketing effort lane launched to sell her mothers manuscript. You can read about that in the book. But i will say that wilder chose to write about people, places, and memories that were not only important to her personally, but that would resonate with adult readers in the early 1930s. So, as reviewers and reporters have pointed out, pioneer girl indeed contains stark scenes of domestic abuse, love triangles gone awry and a man who lit himself on fire while drunk on whiskey. All of that is there. This is because adult material was appropriate for adult readers in the 1930s. But wilder probably on her daughters advice apparently felt that some material was inappropriate even for adult readers. In the rough draft version of pioneer girl wilder includes an especially troubling scene. She and her family are living in walnut grove, minnesota, and once again are struggling to make ends meet. A prosperous family has persuaded ma to let laura live in the home of their son and daughterinlaw of will and nanny masters. Nanny suffered from some kind of mysterious fainting spells and she couldnt adequately care for their little girl. Lauras work was to look out for both the mother and the daughter. As to will masters, the husband in this young family, wilder was uncomfortable around him. She writes, i did not like either to be where will was. He was drinking more than ever. His eyes were red rimmed and he had such a silly look on his face. I hadnt stayed with nanny very long when one night i waked from a sound sleep to find will leaning over me. I could smell the whiskey on his breath. I sat up quickly. Is nanny sick, i asked . No, he answered. Lie down and be still. Go away quick i said or i will scream for nanny. He went and the next day ma said i could come home. Now, a lot is implied in this scene. Theres not a lot of description here. But the implication is clear. Laura was threatened with sexual assault. The situation ends well for laura, and yet this episode was cut from pioneer girl in the edited versions lane typed and later submitted to litry agents and magazine editors later in 1930 and early 1931. The material was too dark, too gritty, too sexually charged for even adult readers in the depression. So, now that weve cleared the air about the adult material in pioneer girl why is this manuscript important . What did i hope reporters and reviewers would see in wilders autobiography . In other words, why does pioneer girl matter . What does it reveal about Laura Ingalls wilder, her work and her legacy . First, it gives readers new insights into wilders childhood and adolescence. Regardless of the grittier, darker elements in pioneer girl the memoir provides us with morespective and information about her life and in her own voice. Lets return to the birth of her baby brother. Coming home from school one day we found a strange woman getting supper and a little brother beside ma in the bed. We were very proud of him and hurried home from school to see him. He was born on november 1st, 1875. Nine months later as the ingalls family left minnesota and moved east their farm and finances ruined by a relentless grasshopper plague, freddie took ill. Little brother was not well and the doctor came. I thought that would cure him. But little brother got worse instead of better, and one awful day he straightened out his little body and was dead. Yet in the midst of despair, grief and economic struggle, wilder gives us this scene just a few pages later when the ingalls family is living in rooms over a Grocery Store in burr oak. We liked our reading lessons very much and used to practice reading them aloud at nights. Pa knew but did not tell us until later that a crowd used to gather in the store beneath to hear us read. This is one of my favorite images in pioneer girl laura and mary reading aloud from the pied piper, poems from the independent fifth reader as townspeople gather below to hear them read. A second reason why pioneer girl is important, it illustrates wilders natural and instinctive talent as both a writer and a storyteller. The question of wilders skill and ability as a writer came into question in large part with the publication of this book in 1993. The ghost in the little house a biographer of rose wilder lane, its a well researched book and i encourage all of you to read it if you havent already. But im simplifying the books major premise only slightly when i say it contended that Laura Ingalls wilder virtually had no talent and that rose wilder lane had ghost written the little house books, he devoted very little attention to pioneer girl. Lyrical, arresting and clearly reveal her raw talent. Passages like this one the sun sank lower and lower until looking like a ball of pulsing liquid light it sank gloriously in clouds of crimson and silver. Cold purple shadows rose in the east, crept slowly around the horizon, then gathered above in depth on depth of darkness from which the stars su s swung low bright. Rough draft, unedited, Laura Ingalls wilder. Now, one isolated passage in a manuscript doesnt necessarily translate to sustained talent. And yet this passage in pioneer girl is important. It showcases wilders natural scri dedescriptive talent which rose wilder lane herself admired and praised. I dont see how anybody could improve on your use of words. You are perfect in describing landscape and things. But this descriptive passage from the original draft of pioneer girl also illustrates what sometimes happens when editors, in this case rose wilder lane, convinced writers to revise and change what should never be altered. Heres how the opening sent edges from the passage appears in the final edited version of pioneer girl. The sun sank lower and lower still a ball of pulsing liquid light, it sank in clouds of crimson and silver. Now, this edit is not radical. Yet the passage loses its poetic rhythm and grace. But wilders original descriptive passage in pioneer girl went on to yet have another life this time in her novel the shores of silver lake. Heres how it appears in that book. The sun sank, a ball of pulsing liquid light it sank in clouds of crimson and silver. Again, the edit is ut subtle but lacks the originals rhythm and grace. Except for these opening lines that you see on the screen, wilder returned to her original passage in pioneer girl for the rest of the description as it appears in silver lake. Lets take another look at the opening line from the description in pioneer girl. The sun sank lower and lower until looking like a ball of pulsing liquid light, it sank gloriously in clouds of crimson and silver. This original line has movement. Both in the scene it describes and the rhythms of the word. Furthermore, this is a kind of technical issue for all of you in the audience who are writing geeks. Wilder uses an adverb here, the word gloriously. Now, usually adverbs are never a writers friend, but here wilder uses it brilliantly. And perfectly. This is why adverbs exist. But this passage had yet another life. This time in rose wilder lanes pioneer novel free land. This book borrows heavily from pioneer girl. It was published in 1938. And heres lanes take pioneer girl. Here is lanes take on wilders original passage. Sunset spread in rainbow colors around the level rim of the earth and purple shadows rose. The low stars were huge and quivering. The description here is flat and dull. It lacks the visual immediacy and impact of her mothers rough draft, uneditted. Why do her pioneer noveling lack the distinctive violence that they find in pioneer girl and the little house series. It reveals wilders growth as a writer. Her transformation. He is launched her professional writing career in 1911. By the way, the ruralist is still around today online. Her editor says he is knows folks like few women know them. And having simp think with the folks with whom he she serves, is writes well. They can show that he is initially wrote like a newspaper columnist. Episodes were short and intense and every paper mattered. Because they have to make every word count. Here is what i mean. Lets look at the passage that opens pioneer girl. Once upon a time years and years ago, pa stopped the horses and the wa dpon they were hauling away out on a prairie in indian territory. Then pa made the campfire. Blnk the opening passage reads like a newspaper column that tells a single story effectively while using a minimum number of words and space. But as wilders confidence grew, understanding that a memoirist didnt have to stick to a strict world count, they began to develop more elaborate scenes. Lets look at the following passage from pioneer girl when the first wave of locusts sweeps through their farm. He felt sure that we would have a wonderful drop. Just thing we heard someone call and [ applause ] nelson was in the doorway. And then we saw the cloud was grasshoppers. Their wings a chieny white, making a screen between us and the sun. They were dropping to the ground like hail in a hailstorm, faster and faster. This is just the beginning of the scene. It continues for several pages. But notice wilders vivid and powerful description. We raised our faces and looked straight into the sun, a bright cloud. The phrasing is memorable, too. The grasshoppers hit the ground headache hail in a hailstorm, faster and faster. Perhaps because of her experience, he is puts in description with die long. While it is used to write a longer multipaid episode, he is is not writing a tightly constructed newspaper column. On the other hand, it shows us just hoch he is grew as a novelest. Here is a single sentence from pioneer girl. In little house on the prairie her third novel, he is devoted an entire chapter to the construction of that house that pa built of logs. And yet another chapter to moving into that house, plus a chapter on outdoors, and chapters on construction of the fireplace, and building the roof and floor of this house. From one sentence in pioneer girl with the confidence of a novelist, he is wrote five chapters from one sentence about that little house in the prairie in her third novel. That brings me to yet another reason why pioneer girl is important. Wilder and lane apparently abandoned their attempt to publish the manuscript. They entered it in a contest, and wilder went on to use it as a outline for the rest of the little house series. He is drew heavily from the pioneer girl. He is took pioneer girl with her and wilder requested the return of sections of the manuscript. As he wrote to lane in 1937, thank you for the pages from pioneer girl, they will help. Wilder even borrowed an episode from pioneer girl for farmer boy. In pioneer girl, wilder accounts a story of a young school master, a slim young man who inherited a schoolhouse of unruly boys that started fights and drove them away. The leader of the gang in pioneer girl was a bully named mose. According to the pioneer girl was the worst of the lot. Xx9 n mose is so embarrassed that he does not return and from that day forward it is an efficient and school. And mr. Course is also described as a pale young man. They had come to flash the teacher and break up the school. The leader of this fissional gang is a tough, mean young man named bill richie. In the fictional version, he faces bill down with a black snake ox whip 15 feet long. It coiled around his legs and mr. Corse jerked. Bill lurched and almost fell. The image of that whip is far more dramatic than the ruler in pioneer girl, but the outcome is the same. The big boys were licked. And in the process, an episode from pioneer girl found its way into a involve about young wilder. Rose wilder lane also used material from pioneer girl in several short stories. And incorporated it into her book let the hurricane roar and freeland. While her mother wrote by the shores of silver lake lane wrote about half breed jack. And her main characters were named charles and caroline. He played the fiddle, and he is was a quiet person. Her face was quiet under smooth wings of hair and all of her movements were gentle and deft. Lanes main characters took their personalities and fames from pioneer girl. So pioneer girl is indeed a grittier and edgier account, but for good reason. And it is an important edition to the literary legacy. It gives us new insight into her growth and development as a novelist and as the literary legend she has since become. Pioneer girl is a treasure as one viewer read it. Thank you all very much. And i believe i have time for some questions. [ applause ]. If you can raise your hand, we will pass the mic. There is one on that side. If you have a question, raise your hand. The question about grey still remains inconclusive. When i was working on pioneer girl, i certainly looked into this. I consulted a very well known expert of wilder, williams anderson, and he concluded along with me that her brothers grave is unmarked and remains unknown conclusively. My wife is the big laur Laura Ingles Wilder expert, not myself. I was shocked to learn that he is was an accomplished newspaper woman for 20 years or so before he is started why is that such a closely held secret. Why wasnt he is applauded for her newspaper work . I never heard of it before. Thats a very good question, and youre not alone in clinging to that image of her being an untrained writer. I think in part the reason why that myth persisted is because it is such a wonderful story and it is so encouraging to so many. But i also have come to believe that in part her work for the missouri ruralist was unrecognized until recently and there is a really fine book editted by steven hymes. He is wrote a couple articles for the country gentleman. In 1919 and the early 1920s, but he is didnt enjoy writing for that market at all. He is really preferred to write to an audience that he is understood, and he is understood the farm audience in missouri very well. Her and her husband established a farm, they worked hard to make that land viable. And i think a lot of critics and early historians initially dismissed her newspaper paper writing because it was just that, writing for a very regional and relatively small group of people. And a smaller audience. However, i think what is really interesting and i discuss this more fully in my biography, the circulation grew dramatically in those years that Laura Ingles Wilder was a columnist. The mag gene was really taking root and finding more ways to express itself. And more and more scholarship has been dephovoted to her work a journalist, and i think people are understanding to understand the Important Foundation it layed for her. When you first took on the material, was it all typed . Or digitized . Or did you work with the big chief tablets. That is a great question. There are several different versions of pioneer girl. The version that i chose to use for the auto biography and they quoted from most extensively, was her original draft, which was handwritten on those big chief tablets. My first exposure to the manuscript came in 2006 and 2007. And i could not look at the original manuscripts. They are safely guarded in a climate controlled space. You can imagine how fragile they are at this point. So i looked at it on micro film from the university of missouri. And i made zxerox copies, and thats what i read and worked from. It was very tough going. It is difficult to read someone elses writing, but on pencil and paper on this time around, in the interim between 2006 and 20 1, the university of missouri had a digitized copy that was much clearer than my xerox copy. And using a digitized copy, Roger Hartley made a typewritten transcript. He made great footnotes about where he is crossed something out, or where a page shifts back to the front, so with his terrific transcript, it made my job so much easier. Do you believe after looking through her work and expanding everything that there is more undiscovered gems from her or have we seen the last. There is one more book that is coming out next year, and it is a collection of her correspondence. And i just saw phil a. Erson at laurapalooza. If you dont know what laura palooza is, ask and i will tell you. He feels confident that in the publication of the correspondence that will come out next year, this is the last of the material that we will have from her. So stay tuned for that i know it will be terrific. I have always been sort of curious about the place of farmer boy. I read a book that said farmer boy was like an idealized version of child, especially talking about the plentiful food available to him. So i was wondering what your thoughts were on that. I think that is a great question, and i describe farmer boy in more detail in my biography. My take on farmer boy is that it is kind of the mirror image of little house in the big woods when Laura Ingles Wilder sold it and they offered her a threebook deal. Publishing has not changed that much since the early 1930s. Just as he is was about to sign the contract for that deal, alfred canoff decided to close their childrens department, and her editor advised her not to sign the contract. The story is fascinating, but ultimately when he is signed her contract with harper and brothers, just a few months later, it was just for one book. An i dont think that he is had really envisioned a full series at this point. He is finished little house in the big woods, he is still had a multibook deal in her mind, and he is turned her attention to a book about her husbands childhood. Hers was primarily for girl readers, farmer boy was for boys, and his story could contrast very nicely with hers because they were from a much more prosperous family. They were in a more subtle part of the country. Their experiences were different. I really feel that farmer boy and little house in the big woods could be read as a set. What i think is dynamic and unique is that her confidence as a novelist is growing in farmer boy, and he is creates a main character that is at the center of all of the action. We think about laura being the main character, and the whole family is engaged here. If you read little house in the big woods, you might assume this was indeed a family story that paw was as much of a main character and laura was. As Laura Ingles Wilder became more confidence about her abilities, when he is created a character like farmer boy for which all of the action centers, who has his own hopes, dreams, and aspirations, i think then he is was ready to think about oh, maybe there are more books in me, even that is when he is started work on little house on the prairie. And laura is clearly the main character there. So i think it is great to she her work has a novelist. You wet my curiosity. Do we know what freddy died from and would you tell more about laurapalooza. Okay. Sadly we dont really know what freddy died of. He died on the trail, the family was in movement then, and in the 19th century, it was sometimes difficult to ascertain exactly what was the cause of death or what caused blindness, for example. Although we now have a better feeling and sense of what was probably at the root marys blindness, as to laura palooza, it is a conference that meets every other year generally. It brings together scholars and fans together discuss, read, share papers, talk about their experiences, and the next laurapalooza will be in 2017 in springfield, missouri, and im stlur will be trips to Rocky Ridge Farm where he is wrote pioneer girl and little house books. There are several people here today that were at laurapalooza. So if you want more, see these two or me afterward. This is delightful listening to you, i enjoy that very much. What is next. Where are you going next in terms of your writing . Right now im taking a break from nonfiction. Its so liberating to write fiction again. So my agent is marketing a young adult novel right now, and im working on a second young adult novel about civil war. My first a voice from the border was published several years ago and it is a period of time that really intrigues me. I am thinking about a possible book on Laura Ingles Wilder, but it is shadoshadowy and it has n taken step yet. Lets thank pamela for coming. Safe travels, everyone. Youre watching American History tv. Follow us on twitter at cspan history for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. All weekend American History tv features oakland, California Incorporated in 1852, it is located about six miles east across the bay from san francisco. Cspans city tour staff visits and showcased the citys history. Learn more all weekend here on American History tv. The first significant number of migrants game in early