Step back in time…Versailles lady has large collection of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ items
KAREN REYNOLDS
Little House on the Prairie books have been staples for little girls for many years. One home on Harvest Ridge is a veritable museum to Laura Ingalls Wilder, one of the main characters. These books are actually stories from Wilder’s life on the prairie long long ago.
According to Alma Price, there’s actually a Laura Ingalls Wilder Festival each year on the home place in Mansfield, Missouri. That home place is now a museum. Price has just a part of a museum at her home. She actually has a designated area for items she’s collected and shelves put up so she could display them.
At one point, a girl from Dillsboro became princess of the Laura Ingalls Festival and traveled with Price to different schools wearing her Laura costume. Since Laura was famous for her homemade gingerbread, gingerbread would be served to the students on those days. Price also saw to it that each school who participated in this program got a new set of Laura Ingalls Wilder books for their library.
Price is a lifetime member of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home Association and her and her husband, Joe, went to the festival each year and were on the board of directors. The last time Price visited Mansfield, Missouri was in September of 1996. She made the trip there that time with her Mom and Dad after Joe passed away.
Price actually has a shingle from the original home. At one point, they were available in their gift shop to buy. Price snapped one up as a memento. Her and Joe were in on the project to reroof the original house.
Price loves to talk about the Laura Ingalls Wilder family, who were very religious and very active in the Methodist Church in Mansfield. Actually most of Laura’s family and Laura are buried in the graveyard there. Laura Ingalls Wilder had such high moral standards as did her family. They moved from the East to Wisconsin in a covered wagon and later, to the Dakotas. Laura and Almonzo ended up in Mansfield, Missouri because he had read a paper of some sort that it was a good farming area with lots of fruit trees. Laura worked as a seamstress in a tailor shop and raised $100.00 so they could move and start over. They moved to Missouri in a covered wagon. Laura hid her $100.00 in A small writing desk. During the trip, they met another group of pioneers and camped near them. When Laura got to Missouri, her money was gone! She really decided that other family had stolen her life savings. As it turns out, the money had slipped down into a hidden part of her writing desk.
They started in Missouri with a two room log cabin and added on as they went. Laura raised a garden, they got a calf and some chickens. In addition, Laura did her writing. Her books weren’t actually published until her daughter, Rose, was in high school. Rose encouraged her Mom to pursue her writing career. Her first book was the Little House in the Big Woods, which was rejected by the first publisher. The second publisher contacted published it.
Price has a long time love for Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. When she was about seven or eight, she would read them aloud to her little sister, Linda. Price received the Rocky Ridge Review, which is a newspaper of sorts that details news from the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum. Price has been a long time quilter and actually made her own Little House on the Prairie quilt.
She also owns a “laundry stove” that would have been how Laura did her laundry long ago. Price joined a club years ago where each month one could buy a new Little House character. Price proudly displays her Ma, Pa, Mary, Karrie, Laura, Grace, Almonzo and Nellie set of porcelain doll characters. She also owns a set of the original Little House on the Prairie books.
While Price would love to go visit Mansfield, Missouri again, she enjoys her small piece of something that has been near and dear to her heart since she was a little girl.
Price retired as a long-time educator from South Ripley Schools, first teaching at Holton and then at South Ripley.
