Hidden away since 1930, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s original autobiography
reveals the true stories of her pioneering life. Some of her
experiences will be familiar; some will be a surprise. Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography re-introduces readers to the woman who defined the pioneer experience for millions of people around the world.
Wilder details the Ingalls family’s journey through Kansas, Missouri,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, back to Minnesota, and on to Dakota
Territory— sixteen years of travels, unforgettable stories, and the
everyday people who became immortal through her fiction. Using
additional manuscripts, diaries, and letters, editor Pamela Smith Hill
adds valuable context and explores Wilder’s growth as a writer.
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography also explores the
history of the frontier that the Ingalls family traversed and the
culture and life of the communities Wilder lived in. The book features
over one hundred images, eight fully researched maps, and hundreds of
annotations based on census data and records, newspapers of the period,
and other primary documents.
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her autobiography, Pioneer Girl,
in 1929―1930 when she was in her early sixties. Throughout the 1930s
and into the early 1940s, Wilder utilized her original manuscript to
write a successful children’s series. She died in Mansfield, Missouri,
at ninety years of age on February 10, 1957.
