Research
Which Came First, the Song or the Cat?
Sometimes I’m asked how I decide what to research in the vast world of LIW, or why I know some amazingly trivial things but not others.
It usually starts quite innocently enough. A comment, a mention in an article, a question from someone else — and the next thing you know, I’m off on a quest.
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Capable Girl Books
A brief discussion of Laura as part of the capable girl and soap opera themes of the 1930s.
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Ask the Experts: What sickness did Ma have?
Folks, we’ve been remiss in posting the questions received by our readers lately, having a tendency to respond by email and never put them up on the site for others to read. We’ll try to rectify that, so don’t be surprised if you see a number of questions put up in the next couple of
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Whatever Happened to Mary Power?
This question has been a common one over the decades, with not much of an answer available until recent years. Gina Terrana, who has researched the life of Mary Power and published articles on her in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore and in The Homesteader, is now offering a print-it-yourself pamphlet including pictures and detailed
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Rose Wilder Lane … Who Knew?
Well, we did. But apparently, now that the venerable New Yorker has run an article about Rose and Laura–containing no new information, and just a lot of commentary based on recycled sources–cyberspace is whirling with debate about Rose’s politics, the expressed values in the Little House series, and even Christian doctrine as expressed in the
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Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Activist?
First, thanks to everyone who listened to my first official radio interview. It was an interesting experience, and I appreciated an interviewer who’d obviously read the book first! Thanks to Sandra, too, for posting the link to the recording of the show.
The interviewer made me think about Laura again, in the context of her work
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On Horses and Oysters
After Sandra referred to Almanzo Wilder as “The Oyster” in her last post, Laura W expressed her curiosity in the comments as to what this was all about. I decided to post the answer rather than reply to Laura as others of you may be curious as well, and it’s an interesting story.
In early 1937,
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How Research Takes Hold, Part II
I hunkered down in the library, ready to view a treasury of material I’d just found: Period magazines that catered to farm women as an audience.
If you’ve never had an opportunity to look through perfectly preserved period archives, I recommend it. It becomes almost ridiculously easy to let your mind wander as you imagine yourself
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