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 diff
Laura Ingalls was born Feb. 7, 1867, in a log cabin in Pepin, Wis. The family s trip from Pepin to their ultimate destination in De Smet, S.D., would take less than seven hours today; for Laura and her family Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, and baby Grace the journey lasted 11 years.