Land of Laura: the Podcast

Sandra Hume + guests
  • 5.0 (19)
  • HISTORY

Land of Laura is the irreverent yet scholarly podcast about all things Laura Ingalls Wilder. The podcast offers Little House and Laura Ingalls Wilder fans insight from authors, historians, researchers, museum professionals — anyone who has something to contribute to the Laura Ingalls Wilder world. It's a podcast for people who love the Little House books — or are even just interested in them. Every episode brings a new take on something in the Little House world.

  1. Caroline Fraser: Author of Prairie Fires, Pulitzer Prize–winning Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder

    2D AGO

    Caroline Fraser: Author of Prairie Fires, Pulitzer Prize–winning Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder

    Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2018. Before writing Prairie Fires, author Caroline Fraser was selected to edit the Library of America's official two-volume set of the Little House® books. Back in the early 90s, her extensive review of William Holtz's Ghost in the Little House was featured in the New York Review of Books. Her latest book, Murderland, looks at environmental links between serial killers and polluted areas of the Pacific Northwest. Today she joins Land of Laura to talk to us about all of it. https://www.carolinefraser.net/

    46 min
  2. Solving a Rose Wilder Lane Mystery: Children of Ararat

    MAR 19

    Solving a Rose Wilder Lane Mystery: Children of Ararat

    Scholars have wondered for years about what happened to Rose Wilder Lane's "lost" Armenian book. Thanks to historian and author Ginger Pedersen, now they know. Dr. Mabel Elliott worked tirelessly in early-1920s Europe to help thousands of Armenian women and orphans in the aftermath of the horrific Armenian genocide. She subsequently wrote a book about that work. A hundred years later, Ginger Pederson was in the thick of research for her biography on Dr. Elliott, Unbreakable Healer, when she learned that Dr. Elliott's book, Beginning Again at Ararat, had an uncredited collaborator. That collaborator? Rose Wilder Lane. On this week's Land of Laura, Ginger Pedersen tells her story of solving this literary mystery along with Rose Wilder Lane scholar Sallie Ketcham. =================== YouTube explainer about Children of Ararat Children of Ararat Unbreakable Healer =================== Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission. ==================== Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie Rose Wilder Lane Children of Ararat Armenian Genocide Ginger Pedersen Sallie Ketcham Mabel Elliott

    44 min
  3. "I'll Wear My Delaine." Laura Keyes Returns for Caroline Ingalls' Delaine Dress and Pioneer Women's Underwear

    MAR 12

    "I'll Wear My Delaine." Laura Keyes Returns for Caroline Ingalls' Delaine Dress and Pioneer Women's Underwear

    What is a peplum — and could you have worn one in the 1980s? How many undergarments might a woman wear in the nineteenth century? What kind of a dress was Ma's delaine? How fashionable was Caroline Ingalls? Does the dress she wore in Little House in the Big Woods show up in other books in the Little House® series? Answers to these questions and more in tomorrow's episode of Land of Laura, when historic interpreter Laura Keyes (from Historic Voices) returns as promised to talk about Ma's delaine dress, as well as providing a detailed primer on pioneer ladies' underwear. ===================Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission.====================

    40 min
  4. Perspective from the Village of Pepin, Wisconsin: Kitty Latané and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birthplace

    MAR 5

    Perspective from the Village of Pepin, Wisconsin: Kitty Latané and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birthplace

    Who's planning a trip to Pepin? One of the many homesites Laura Ingalls Wilder fans can visit is Laura's birthplace of Pepin, Wisconsin, a charming artistic town on the Great River Road on the Minnesota border. Kitty Latané is a longtime Pepin resident who has been deeply involved with the village of Pepin and Laura Ingalls Wilder's connection there for decades. She even wrote the foreword for the Land of Laura travel guide to Pepin. We're thrilled to have Kitty as this week's podcast guest to talk about her hometown, her role in Pepin's annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Days, and the newest event in Pepin, Home at Laura's Place. ===================Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission.==================== Pepin, Wisconsin: lauraingallspepin.com Laura Ingalls Wilder Days: lauradays.org Instagram for T&C Latané: tandclatane Land of Laura Pepin Travel Guide on Amazon

    45 min
  5. What Really Made Mary Ingalls Go Blind? (Hint: It Wasn't Scarlet Fever)

    FEB 26

    What Really Made Mary Ingalls Go Blind? (Hint: It Wasn't Scarlet Fever)

    Dr. Beth Tarini was a medical school student when talk turned to scarlet fever. Scarlet fever — that's what made Mary Ingalls go blind, she thought. But her medical training had already taught her that wasn't possible. She started to wonder — what did cause Mary's blindness? As she became a doctor, the question stayed in her mind. It would take another decade, but in 2012, working with research assistant Sarah Allexan — today a physician — they came up with an answer to that question that was so plausible, they co-wrote an article about it that was published in the medical journal Pediatrics in 2013. Episode 20 of Land of Laura welcomes guests Dr. Beth Tarini and Dr. Sarah Allexan to look back on that article, their collaboration on it, and the historical and medical research that led to their conclusion on what exactly may have caused Mary Ingalls to go blind. Pediatrics: Blindness in Walnut Grove: How Did Mary Ingalls Lose Her Sight? https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/131/3/404/31000/Blindness-in-Walnut-Grove-How-Did-Mary-Ingalls?redirectedFrom=fulltext ===================Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission.==================== Little House series Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder Rose Wilder Lane scarlet fever Mary Ingalls blind

    36 min
  6. Whoa, Nelly! Julia Park Tracey's Little House–coded Love Story, with Footnotes

    FEB 19

    Whoa, Nelly! Julia Park Tracey's Little House–coded Love Story, with Footnotes

    Some of us are scholars, some of us are creative, and some of us are both. Julia Park Tracey, Writer incorporated her Laura Ingalls Wilder scholarship into her latest book, the adult novel WHOA, NELLY: A LOVE STORY WITH FOOTNOTES. What happens when an introverted librarian boards a train in California to meet up with like-minded fans in De Smet, South Dakota? On episode 19 author, journalist, and poet Julia Park Tracey tells us what we can expect. Whoa, Nelly! A Love Story with Footnotes ===================Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission.==================== Find Julia on social media: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juliaparktraceywriter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliaparktracey/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juliaparktracey Threads: https://www.threads.com/@juliaparktracey BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/juliaparktracey.bsky.social

    37 min
  7. A Pistol in Her Lap: Getting to Know Caroline Ingalls with Sarah Miller, Author of CAROLINE

    FEB 12

    A Pistol in Her Lap: Getting to Know Caroline Ingalls with Sarah Miller, Author of CAROLINE

    When author Sarah Miller heard the Little House audiobooks as an adult, she began to see Caroline Ingalls in a different way. In 2018 she published CAROLINE, a look at Laura Ingalls Wilder's book LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE from the perspective of the woman who held it all together: her mother, Caroline Ingalls. http://www.sarahmillerbooks.com/ ===================Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission.====================

    47 min
  8. Good Books for Bad Children: Children's Publishing and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Editors with Wendy McClure (Part 2)

    FEB 5

    Good Books for Bad Children: Children's Publishing and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Editors with Wendy McClure (Part 2)

    Wendy McClure, author of ⁠The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie⁠ (Episode 6), brings her 30 years of experience in children's publishing to another visit to the Land of Laura studio. In an overview over two episodes, she'll orient us to the state of quality children's literature when Laura Ingalls Wilder (and Rose Wilder Lane) came on the scene. (Hint: it didn't exactly exist.) She'll also introduce us to all four of Laura's editors, including badass Ursula Nordstrom. She'll tell us about the ongoing branding and expansion of the Little House series that started in the 1990s and share her opinion on which Little House book is most likely to show up as a horror movie. ===================Theme music is "Roll the Old Chariot Along" from the album Green Willow by the Dreadnaughts. Used with permission.====================

    37 min
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5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Land of Laura is the irreverent yet scholarly podcast about all things Laura Ingalls Wilder. The podcast offers Little House and Laura Ingalls Wilder fans insight from authors, historians, researchers, museum professionals — anyone who has something to contribute to the Laura Ingalls Wilder world. It's a podcast for people who love the Little House books — or are even just interested in them. Every episode brings a new take on something in the Little House world.

Information

  • Creator
    Sandra Hume + guests
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sandra Hume + guests
  • Show Website
    Land of Laura: the Podcast

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