Eddie Higgins, a researcher and friend of the Land of Laura podcast, interviews journalist and professor Christine Woodside.

When Woodside set out to write a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, she couldn't help but keep coming back to politics. Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who was a silent collaborator in shaping the Little House book series, is considered along with Ayn Rand and Isabel Paterson to be one of the founding godmothers of libertarianism.

Woodside's resulting 2016 biography, LIBERTARIANS ON THE PRAIRIE: LAURA INGALLS WILDER, ROSE WILDER LANDE, AND THE MAKING OF THE LITTLE HOUSE BOOK, provides a close look at the working relationship between mother and daughter. The two women created the Little House series against the backdrop of the Depression, and Woodside shows how their opinions on the politics of the day couldn't help but organically seep into the book series.

Libertarians on the Prairie

https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/sky-pony-press/9781628726565/libertarians-on-the-prairie/

"Little House on the Prairie: The contested collaboration between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane" by Christine Woodside

https://publicseminar.org/2018/04/little-house-on-the-prairie/

American Made by Farah Stockman: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/591675/american-made-by-farah-stockman/

"All the World is Queer," column by Mrs. A.J. Wilder in the Missouri Ruralist, September 20, 1916 — where Laura describes throwing and then kicking an automatic butter churn that she disliked using. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist, page 84

Peter Bagge has written graphic novels/biographies about three free-thinking, independent women living in the early to mid-twentieth century: birth control advocate Margaret Sanger, African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston ... and Rose Wilder Lane.

Peter describes the release of his book on Rose Wilder Lane,called CREDO, with one word: crickets. It just didn’t sell well. Even Land of Laura host Sandra Hume had dismissed the title at first, not quite absorbing that it was a biography about Rose Wilder Lane. But CREDO is creative and entertaining and enlightening, showing Rose Wilder Lane's life from her early childhood in 1880s Dakota Territory to her last days in Connecticut in 1968.

Now Peter’s here on Land of Laura to tell us all about it.

We've all been anticipating the launch of the first season of the 2026 version of Little House on the Prairie on Netflix. Was it going to be like the 1970s Michael Landon show? Would it adhere closely to the book series, or would it deviate? How would they depict the Osage Native Americans? What would be added — or subtracted — to complete their vision?

Land of Laura invited Laura Ingalls Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill along with The Wilder Life author Wendy McClure to come to the studio and offer their reactions to the 8 episodes of the first season.

From Hallmark to the Civil War to Days of Heaven, Pamela and Wendy, along with host Sandra Hume, discuss influences, oversights, inspiration, and what the showrunners got exactly right.

Mentioned in the episode:

Days of Heaven (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven)

Pioneer Girl website (www.pioneergirl.com)

Laura Ingalls Gunn (https://decortoadore.net/)

Pioneer Girl, Wilder's autobiography (https://www.sdhspress.com/books/pioneer-girl-the-annotated-autobiography)

Wendy McClure (www. wendymcclure.net)

Pamela Smith Hill (www.pamelasmithhill.com)

Sandra Hume is back to welcome you to Season 2 of Land of Laura. Find out what's on deck for the second season and what changes are in store for the only podcast around about all things Laura Ingalls Wilder.

In 1974, Ed Friendly created the Little House on the Prairie TV show with Michael Landon. Creative differences spurred Ed to leave the show early on, though he still produced it.

This July, a new Little House on the Prairie comes to the small screen. It's executive produced by Friendly Family Productions, where Ed's son, Trip, is the CEO. Today Trip is our guest on Land of Laura, along with his daughter, Rebecca, COO of the company. They're both excited for the new Little House on the Prairie, and want to share how this new adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books came to be.

Author Nancy McCabe listened to several episodes of Land of Laura and heard the guests share their origin stories. She thought: what about Sandra Hume's origin story?

In this episode Nancy turns the tables on Sandra and asks what brought the podcast host into the world of Little House. Sandra shares her history with creating the Homesteader newsletter, co-founding the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association and its LauraPalooza conference, publishing the Land of Laura travel guides to the Wilder homesites in the upper Midwest, starting the Land of Laura podcast, and writing her young-adult novel, No Shade on the Prairie, about a Little House road trip.

Historian Michelle Marie Martin, PhD, was with the Little House on the Prairie Museum at Independence, Kansas from2008-2015, the last four years as executive director of the site.

In this episode Dr. Martin shares the history of the site, the complicated history of the Osage land, how living history can be a tool for learning, and why the African American doctor who cared for the Ingalls family, George Tann, is so darn interesting.
Every August the Little House on the Prairie Museum hosts Carrie Days in honor of the August 3rd birthday of Carrie Ingalls, who was born at the site.

www.lhopmuseum.com

Erin Blakemore is a journalist, historian, and author of the book The Heroine's Bookshelf. Here's part 2 of her interview where she details the magic of listening to the Little House books on audiobook for the first time.

Erin shares several of her revelations, including how she feels Laura Ingalls Wilder used horses as a vehicle to communicate sensuality and sexuality when she didn't have the words to do it otherwise. Also, in the midst of narrator Cherry Jones' brilliance, the few things she got painfully wrong.

Erin Blakemore is a journalist, historian, and author of the book The Heroine's Bookshelf. Recently after brain surgery she turned to the the comfort of her beloved Little House books in a way she never had before: by listening to them on audio. Erin's first time listening to Cherry Jones' masterful narration of the entire Little House series was transformative. In the first of two episodes, Erin shares that experience with Land of Laura's listeners and offers commentary of her own on the enduring impact of Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories on our collective cultural history.

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-heroines-bookshelf-erin-blakemore?variant=44503652106274

With fully half of the books taking place there, De Smet, Dakota Territory — South Dakota today — is the pinnacle of Little House homesites. By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years are all grounded in the tiny town of De Smet.

From the Surveyors' House to the house Pa built on Third Street to a robust collection of Ingalls and Wilder artifacts, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society is responsible for overseeing and preserving the bulk of what visitors get to see in De Smet.

This week's Land of Laura welcomes Mary Jo Wertz, Executive Director of De Smet's Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society. Learn how she came into the position, what it's like to head up the Society as a former pharmacist, and what visitors can expect in 2026 and beyond — including a few unexpected surprises. (Really!)

www.discoverlaura.org