Red Cloud, NE

" That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great." - Willa Cather


We finally made it to Red Cloud.  We arrived here on Sunday morning, so it was largely a ghost town.  The Willa Cather Society had a walking tour map in front of the Opera House, so we picked one up and looked around.  Nebraska seems harder hit by the drought than many of the other places we have been, and the whole place seems hot, dry and sad.  It is easy to imagine Cather's despair at having been brought here from lush Virginia.

After lunch, we decided to go on a guided tour.  I did not know if we would see much that we didn't see our self-guided tour, but wanted to hear what they said.  The Willa Cather Foundation owns many of the properties related to Cather and runs the tour.  The Cather Foundation has worked hard to identify the sources of the people in her books.  They want to portray her as a local author, even though she seldom visited after she left for college at 16.  They have done what seems like a thorough job of identifying people, and it is interesting to see sights important to them.  Our guide was also aware of certain problems; there was a person here named Jim Burden, but the character Jim Burden was based more on Cather herself than on him (although some details of his family life seem to be from the historical Jim Burden).  

The Willa Cather Society is aware of the tension between portraying Cather as a local writer who wrote about people she knew, and Cather as a writer of fiction that transcends mere recollection.  There is a short film that accompanies the tour that makes it clear that Cather's writing itself should be what we remember most.  I wish I had a transcript for the film so I could quote it directly.

This is the only area that has set out to preserve the memory of Willa Cather in earnest, and there are considerably fewer people coming here than to any of the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites.  Our tour had thirteen people, and our guide said it was the largest she has ever had.  The guide wanted us to see the places that were mentioned in the books, and she knew which books corresponded with particular rooms.  She did not reflect on the extent to which Cather was a sentimental writer, nor whether preserving these sites might affect the way the books are interpreted.  

This is the church that Annie Sedilek, the model for Antonia, had her son baptized and was later married.  They could not afford a bell or a priest, so they would blow a whistle when a circuit priest was on his way.

 Annie Sedilek

 This is the place where Annie Sedilek would have slept when she was working for the Miners, who provided the model for the Harlings in My Antonia.  The local lore says Mr. Miner really was gruff and brought an end to the fun at this house whenever he was in town, just like Mr. Harling.

 This is how the Sedilek homestead looked when it was purchased by the Willa Cather Foundation.

 This is the site of a "suicide grave" that Willa Cather found moving.  

De Smet, SD

We spent a little over a day in De Smet.  I can say without reservation that this is the best Laura Ingalls Wilder site; if you want to visit only one site, choose this one.  The guides are well informed, the buildings are carefully curated, and the town is nice and easy to navigate.  There is nothing about the TV show here at all, so if you know the story only through television, you should go to Walnut Grove.  The Ingalls family was here longer than at any other site, and their presence is clearly felt.  I will not give you a turn-by-turn review, but tell you some of the highlights.

The guided tour takes you to the first school house that Laura attended in De Smet.  It had been turned into a residence, so there was new siding and flooring.  There were also layers of wallpaper.  The Laura Ingalls Wilder Society heard that there had been a blackboard painted onto the wall.  They scraped through layers of wallpaper until they found some of the blackboard paint.  Our guide said that it would take $60,000 to restore the walls, and so right now they are considering leaving it with layers of wallpaper partially cut away. I think this is an interesting decision, since it gives a sense of the passing of time.  They also cut through the machined-wood flooring to show the original rough-cut floor.

As at the Spring Valley Methodist Church, our guide here was a school teacher.  Both of these guides gave us a large amount of information; they had carefully memorized presentations that were presented with careful, speaker-like diction.  Our Burr Oak guide spoke in a more conversational tone, and it seemed that she was just talking to us.  To me, I find the less formal style much easier to follow.  My brain tends to shut off when I hear the lulling cadence that many speakers use.  I have worked hard to avoid using my "teacher voice" for this very reason.  Please leave a comment about which style works best for you.  One of our presenters also passed around pictures, which teachers often do.  I really dislike this, since it focuses my attention on making sure the pictures are circulating well.

We also saw the Laura Ingalls Pageant.  They portrayed The Long Winter.  The highlight was that Amelia was chosen as an extra.  The play started out by saying that God does not take care of people the way he takes care of the animals because he wants us to be free and take care of ourselves.  For the most part, the play was about what you would expect.  The sets were very well built.  They used ballet dancers to portray the snow.  See the pictures.

Prophetic Authorship

I have been thinking about what distinguishes a good author from a great author.  At Burr Oak, I was given a chance to peruse Laura's handwritten draft of a book about her life there.  She wrote this before any of her published books.  Laura is a good storyteller, although she depends on non-evocative adjectives to describe how things felt ("cold," "hard," etc.)  What I think Rose contributed most to her writing is using descriptions of what people did to combat the cold, rather than mere use of adjectives, to help draw the reader in to her world.  Rose is much more of a literary stylist, and I think her intense editing helped to make these stories exciting and inspirational.

There is more to being a great author than telling good stories.  I don't know what all the aspects of being a great author are, but I find that the greatest have a prophetic element in their writing.  In this sense, "prophetic" means calling into question the assumptions of the status quo to point to a deeper, more authentic understanding.

Even though prophets are not necessarily insubordinate, they must occasionally find themselves in conflict with the defenders of traditional dogma, at least to the extent that they are understood.  Socrates described himself as a gadfly whose constant irritation kept Athens from becoming philosophically complacent.  As would be expected, they made Socrates swallow poison.  Jesus of Nazareth said, "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplace and have the best seats in the synagogue and the places of honor at feasts."  We all know what happened to Jesus.

Of course, when the defenders see the popularity of these prophets, they try to claim their teachings as their own.  How long was it before the scribes in long robes were the people who were promoting Christianity and not persecuting it?  What is hardest to control is that often the actual words of the prophetic writers are preserved, and they can be silenced only by destroying their writings or keeping people from reading them.  In part, this is why I am so excited about the emphasis on primary documents promoted by the Great Books schools.

Therefore, the final question is, do the writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder serve a prophetic role, a palliative role, or a combination of both?  I think that Laura (I am using her first name to follow the practice of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Society) is largely a writer of fiction for children who tends to avoid difficult questions, often even trying to tell the story in such a way that it minimizes the fact that there are serious issues underlying the events she describes: the morality of occupying land acquired through force, relying on free land while criticizing government handouts, etc.  Laura often seems aware of some of these problems, but doesn't want us to focus on problematic aspects of history.  Her writings clearly are sentimental, in the sense of portraying a past that was more pure and simple than today.

All of these museums emphasize this role of Laura's writing.  Every official museum has a cut-out of a scene from one of the books with a sign that says, "Come Home to Little House."  The lessons we are supposed to draw from Laura's life are that faith and hard work are what makes a good life.  I do think it is possible to say that her writings have a certain type of prophetic significance, as her emphasis on simplicity counters the theme of self-indulgence that has become a controlling theme of our culture.  On the other hand, the way that her legacy is preserved is as someone whose message is more comforting than challenging.  Indeed, the stores set up at every site are really temples of the consumer culture.


The sites differ quite a bit on the degree to which they emphasize the libertarian sentiments of the Wilders.  The De Smet site has a room set up with furniture and office equipment once owned by Rose, and there is a clear description of her strident patriotism.  It tells the story of a time that she kicked a Latvian salesman, who was closing a sale with her roommate, out of the house for saying that he had a hard time making a living in this country.  It also said she had outspoken political views.  None of the sites say anything about Laura and Almanzo's politics, although they all sell books that describe it quite well.  

Plum Creek

The highlight of our visit to Walnut Creek was a quick trip to the actual site of the dugout house.  We got a chance to wade in Plum Creek minutes after reading Laura's description of getting attacked by leeches here. Unfortunately, no leeches for us.  Maybe next time.

The people who own this site, the Gordons, did not realize they owned a place of historical significance until they were contacted by Garth Williams, the illustrator of the Little House books.  They now maintain the place to accommodate tourists.  Even though there are trees here now, I could look over the fields and imagine that I have a better sense of Laura's life.

Walnut Grove, MN

Walnut Grove has an enormous gift shop.  It is large and has the feel of a modern store.  I paged through a couple of interesting books.  One of them is Islam and the Discovery of Freedom.  It is an excerpt of a book by Rose Wilder Lane, carefully annotated by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad.  She argues that there were three attempts to establish freedom as the basis of government: Abraham's community, the early Islamic community under Mohammed, and the American Revolution.  Lane realized that she had made serious errors in her book, so withdrew it rather than rewrite it with corrections.

The other book is The Rediscovered Writings of Rose Wilder Lane.  Although I did not read these books, and do not plan to do it now, I do get a clear impression of a person who views the study of a history as a means of showing that freedom is always more successful than tyranny.  I think the thesis that the Little House books have a political message is clearly true.  I definitely think it is a mistake to see the books as mere propaganda.  If they were, would so many people love them so much?

The Walnut Grove museum seems largely set up for fans of the television show.  The museum consists of two large exhibit buildings, and several reconstructed historical buildings.  The first museum has a room dedicated to the books and a room dedicated to the show.  The "book room" is mostly storyboards with photographs. It was mostly stuff that we have already seen.

The television show room emphasizes articles that were written about the show, and memorabilia from TV show promotions: masks, games, a tea set, and so on.  The actors who have visited Walnut Grove are generally given better coverage than other people.  They have displays about the books the various stars wrote, with signed copies and photographs accompanying them.

The buildings are pretty large and don't have a feeling of authenticity.  For example, they have a replica dugout house, but it is clearly a small building with dirt on it.  It has more an amusement park sense to it.

The second museum building has several exhibits relating to local history, from pioneer days to the 1950's.  The kids enjoyed the fact that they could touch many of the things here, and it seemed designed to interest kids.

Vesterheim Museum and Spring Valley Church Museum

Going to historical museums gives me a chance to reflect on the degree to which the present is shaped by the past, often in ways that escape our awareness.  For pioneers, the big decisions relate to where they are going to settle and what elements of their past lives they are going to preserve.  These decisions affect the descendants of these pioneers forever.

We visited the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, MN.  This museum is dedicated to Norwegian pioneers.  This museum showed the way things looked in the old country and the reasons for emigration from it.  They show Norway as a beautiful place, but one that is running out of land and that is trapped in a largely feudalistic economy.  Since land ownership was restricted largely to the aristocracy and there were strict rules for passing on property to descendants, Norwegians did not see any way to get ahead.  There was also persecution of Norwegian Quakers and follower of pietist preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge, and overpopulation brought about by - among other things - the introduction of calorie-rich potatoes.

The most striking thing about this museum was that it showed the way certain folkways and arts from the old country were preserved to this day.  The second floor has breathtaking displays of woodcarving and rosemaling.  I did take some pictures, but since we could not use a flash I think you should check out the museum's website.  The chip carving is particularly detailed, and the pieces have an elaborate symmetry that is stunning.  I think that only a people who lived in an exceptionally. cold climate could have the dedication to create such a detailed art form.    The third floor holds a display of modern pieces based on the traditional forms.  The art of Americans of Norwegian heritage is not something that I knew much about, but since we visited this museum we have seen tropes in various aspects of Minnesota design and architecture.  

Not only does history shape us, but we shape history.  I don't mean to say that history is a blank canvas for us to invent a past, but there are elements of the past that we preserve and some that we don't.  In the Vesterheim, it is clear that they want the story to be of escape from oppression and triumph in a new country.  While there is some mention of early hardships, the emphasis is on success in the New World.   

This museum definitely put me in touch with an aspect of American history that I was only vaguely familiar with.  In My Antonia, Lena Lingard is portrayed as a skilled dressmaker, but I did not have a sense of the long tradition of fine craftsmanship that Norwegians are known for.

We also visited the Spring Valley Church Museum in Spring Valley, MN.  This church was built, in part, by a donation from Almanzo's parents, and Almanzo and Laura attended services here for about a year.  Although this museum has a tenuous connection to Laura Ingalls Wilder, they do an exceptional job of capitalizing on that connection.   We almost did not stop here, but decided it was best to escape a storm.  It was a good thing, because the rain hit hard.

This a large church, and the admission gives you a guided tour of two floors.  The top floor is a museum with pictures from Laura's family and some historical religious implements, which don't have anything to do with the Little House books, but which are well preserved.  Even though the Little House things are mostly pictures that we have already seen, our guide had good descriptions of the other sites.  The bottom floor is dedicated to Spring Valley history.  Richard Sears, of Sears and Roebuck, was from here.  This collection was rather random, but much better organized than the museum in Pepin.  I can understand that it is a hard task to organize hundreds of items that are donated or are on loan.  

Pepin, WI and Burr Oak, IA

Today we went to Pepin and Burr Oak.  Pepin was The Little House in the Big Woods and Pepin does not figure in any of the books, but the Ingalls family lived here while Pa worked several jobs.  According to the guide, the family ended up owing money to a Mr. Bisby, and so they had to sneak out of town in the middle of the night.  Charles Ingalls ended up squaring everything with Mr. Bisbee after earning some money in Walnut Grove, but I can see why this story would be a little embarrassing to include in a book for children.

The Pepin site is a modern copy of the historical cabin surrounding by fields growing beans and corn.  There is a forested area between Pepin and the site, but the cabin is not currently in the forest.  There is a museum in the town of Pepin.  The museum is made up of various Native American, pioneer-era, and 20th-century items that were given or loaned to the museum.  Much of the stuff is not directly related to Laura.  The museum is organized mostly at random and I was interested in the juxtaposition of items from different historical periods.

Grain cradle and Little House puzzle

Little House lunchbox and pig bladder

Here are some pictures from the cabin.  

This barn is across the street from the cabin

Burr Oak


The people who manage Burr Oak have a more polished presentation.  The only original site is the hotel where Charles, Caroline, and the girls all worked.  You pay at a nearby historical jail and they walk you over and give a guided tour.  They only have three artifacts that actually belonged to Laura (a calling card, handcrafted handkerchief and some "handiwork"), but they do have some possessions that belonged to other people who lived in the hotel.  There are some life-size dolls that are nice and quirky.

The curators of the hotel put up signs depicting "Laura's virtues," which are maxims culled from her writing, particularly responses to fan mail.  These tend to emphasize Laura's promotion of perseverance and self-reliance, which is pertinent to the question I asked when I started this project.  Laura is clearly portrayed as someone who wanted people to draw specific lessons from her writing.

While we are traveling, we are listening to Little Town on the Prairie.  The book has some interesting vignettes, but it is hard for me to say that they are any better than stories about "the good old days" that elderly people always seems to know.  Somehow these stories captured imaginations around the world, especially in Japan.

My wife thinks these stories have stood out from other pioneer narratives because they show that period in history the way people want to believe it was: hard, but also full of fun.  I am not sure this is the whole reason, but it is interesting to think about.