I’m sure the button collectors featured in this article on the St. Louis Today website have some interesting buttons. It inspired me to continue my search!

It seems this is the perfect time to be doing our read-along to These Happy Golden Years!

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library has included her entire speech from her visit complete with lots of photos.
Wendy McClure at Hoover Presidential Library

And while you are on the Hoover YouTube page, check out their Laura exhibit from the 1990s.
Laura Ingalls Wilder Exhibit

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio
Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association, Vice-President and Membership Chair

I’m really grateful that Sandra and Connie agreed to help coordinate audience participation for Pa’s Fiddle by members of our Little House community.

For those who are able to be there it’ll be a great chance to be part of the show…we’ll make sure we see your smiling, happy faces as you listen to some of the best music Pa played on his fiddle during his family’s timeless adventure on the prairie. Our house band will be five to six players led by musical director Randy Scruggs…together they will be supporting some special guests from the worlds of country and bluegrass music.

Laura mentions 127 different songs in her books…we’ll hear 10 to 15 of them at the Loveless Barn. The performances will be edited into a 1-hour Pledge Special for PBS that will premiere nationally in June of 2012.

We only have about 100 seats available…they’ll all be good…you’ll be part of the show. I know i’ts short notice, but you’ll have fun. We’ll need to know who’s coming by Friday, Dec 16. Details on the show time will be made available at that time…you should expect the performance to be shot over a four- to six-hour period during the afternoon and evening of January 6, 2012. I’ll hope to see you there.

Edited to add:

People have been asking about children attending the performance. We’re glad you reminded us, as we would love younger fans to be in the audience! Any child 8 years and older is welcome to come, but please keep in mind that this will be a long afternoon/evening and we will need everyone who chooses to attend the event to stay from beginning to end in the interest of continuity.

Dean

A few months ago, a google search lead me to find out about ArtsPower National Touring Theatre’s production of “Laura Ingalls Wilder: Growing Up on the Prairie” that would be stopping at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts on October 22. Happily this is local, being only about a 30 minute drive from my home. It is only 55 minutes long and aimed at grades 2 – 6 (it would make a great field trip). The fact that it is aimed at a (much) younger audience did not deter me from wanting to go see it. I bought two tickets hoping that I could convince either my husband or daughter to go with me. I think I may have been successful in bribing convincing my daughter to enjoy it with me.

I will report back!

But there is something about Rocky Ridge Farm* that fills me with a sense of nostalgic awe like none of the others. I love that old house and the grounds surrounding it. It feels like home.

One might say it’s become a bit of an obsession for me. When in Mansfield, a simple visit and tour of the home isn’t nearly enough to satisfy me. I simply cannot be so near that home and not see it. I’ve driven over to see it in the blackness of night. I’ve come by to see the sun rise from its grounds, and also to watch it set. I’ve even gone over to say goodbye to it in the wee hours of the morning, when the fog was so thick it blanketed the house entirely so it wasn’t even visible. Simply knowing it was there was enough. I just love that old house.

Plans have been in the works for years to build an archival museum away from the home, tearing down the current museum and restoring the grounds as closely as possible to the way they looked when Laura and Almanzo were still living. I’ve spent hours poring over the architectural drawings available at the current museum building, trying to envision how the farm looked in the past, as well as what it will look like when the renovations are completed. I’ve long dreamed of the day when all of this will come to pass, but funding such an extensive project isn’t easy.

So I was very pleased to hear of the latest boost to the fundraising drive, including the news that former First Lady Laura Bush has agreed to serve as honorary chairman of the campaign. Check out Springfield’s local newspaper for more details.

* Rocky Ridge Farm was the final home of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, in Mansfield, Missouri.

Check out this story where homage was paid to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Wendy McClure’s The Wilder Life was given a mention too!

The article also tells of a website called Writer’s Houses, which highlights homes of different authors around the world .

Today it’s Laura’s turn. Ms. Silvey has featured Little House in the Big Woods in the July 10th Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac

Wilder Barns Burn

But don’t panic — this is no recent devastation, but rather, a headline culled from an 1851 edition of the Franklin Gazette, courtesy of the Franklin County Historical Society in New York.  The Wilder family at this time was much smaller than the family you know from Farmer Boy. Almanzo and Alice were not yet born, Eliza Jane was probably just learning her bossy ways at the age of 18 months, Royal was three, and the oldest sister Laura (not mentioned in Farmer Boy) was six years old.

Isn’t it fascinating that the buildings were insured? The questions that little tidbit raises… how much did such a policy cost? What losses would it cover? Was insurance typical for farmers in the area, or is this another sign of the Wilders’ affluence that Laura portrays in Farmer Boy? Anyone out there knowledgeable about the insurance business of the mid-1800s?