Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House Books: “But It Was a Different Time Then!”

Class Description

From popular culture to classics, when attempts are made to engage older texts that reveal the offensive “-isms” of previous decades or generations, the most common deflection is “But it was a different time then!” That is where the conversation begins, not where it ends.

This course explores in-depth Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series from multiple angles, including their settings, authorship and publication, adaptations, translations, and continued legacy. How does the series present American history, and American girlhood? What do the books reveal about society, ideology, and America in their historical time… and what time is “theirs” in the first place? Are they autobiographies or fiction? Who actually wrote them, and does “Laura Ingalls Wilder” exist? How do the Little House books and their perspectives of America fit in twenty-first century contexts, if at all?

This eight-week course is structured around a chronological reading of the Little House series, with additional works by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane individually. Each class will explore in detail the text’s and Ingalls family’s historical and literary contexts, including revisions, misrepresentations, and erasures.

All virtual classes are recorded and made available to participants registered in the class. These recordings are password-protected and available for up to two weeks after the class ends.

Dawn Sardella-Ayres received her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2016. She was the L.M. Montgomery Institute Research Associate for 2023-2024, and specializes in girls’ literature and the girls’ Bildungsroman/Kunstlerroman. Her publications include articles on Alcott, Montgomery, Johnston, and Wilder.

What to Expect

Format: Virtual 

Class Capacity: 10 

Class Style: Mix of lecture and discussion; participation encouraged 

Materials List

Required

• Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Little House Books Boxed Set. Harper & Row, 1971. ISBN: 9780064400404 (Please Note: We are unable to stock the books in our store, but copies are available at the Chicago Public Library. You can also find used copies for sale at online stores like AbeBooks.)

Or, individually:

• Little House in the Big Woods

• Farmer Boy

• Little House on the Prairie

• On the Banks of Plum Creek

• By the Shores of Silver Lake

• The Long Winter

• Little Town on the Prairie

• These Happy Golden Years

• The First Four Years

Recommended

• Other Instructor-Distributed Materials

First Reading

• Read Little House in the Big Woods

Cost and Registration

8 Sessions, $300 ($270 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.

We offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($300), Community Supported ($280), and Sponsor ($320). Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.

To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.

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Call us at (312) 255-3700 or send us an email at adulteducation@newberry.org.

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