Library Inherits Laura Ingalls Wilder Letter

Remembering Wilder 75 years after the release of 'Little House in the Big Woods'

By Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2007

The letter’s shaky penmanship was clearly written by an elderly person, so the message is understandably short: “Dear Mrs. Stirling and Pupils,” it begins, “I am glad you have enjoyed my stories and will answer your questions.” It ends, “With love to you all, Laura Ingalls Wilder.”

The carefully preserved letter—dated August 4, 1952 and sent from Mansfield, MO—was addressed to Bertha Stirling, a teacher in Loma, MT, who worked in a one-room schoolhouse. That school, which was founded in the 1890s, closed last year, along with its school district and the letter was subsequently donated to the state’s first library, the Chouteau County Library in Fort Benton, Montana’s oldest, still populated settlement.

Library Director Jill Munson says she’s thrilled to be able to display the Wilder letter in the children’s room above an anniversary display of Wilder’s books and biographies. This year marks the 75th anniversary of Wilder’s first book, Little House in the Big Woods (Harper & Brothers, 1932). The children’s author went on to write nine books, which chronicle her family’s personal struggles in the settlement of the American West.

“The first thing a lot of children ask is, 'Is it real?'” Last year, Munson says, a tourist burst into tears—emotional at seeing the frail but still beautiful penmanship of an author who meant so much to her as a child.

Wilder also meant a lot to Stirling’s students. They wrote her, curious for an update about her family. Wilder replied with some very personal information. Her husband, Almanzo, had died in 1949; their only child, Rose, was living in Connecticut, and Wilder’s three sisters had all passed away. Wilder, who was 85 at the time, passed away in 1957. But the magic of her books continues, Munson says, particularly in the unspoiled, historically rich “Golden Triangle” of north central Montana.