Home | Directory | Contact | FAQ | Recipes | Restaurants | Vietnamese Recipes | 100 Vietnamese Foods | Subscribe

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona

After lunch at Pollos KiKiRyKi Peruvian Restaurant - Claremont, my friend and I went to check out the Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection at the Pomona Public Library. Clara Webber, the Pomona Public Library's children's librarian from 1948 to 1970, struck up a correspondence and friendship with the author. When the library was remodeled and the children's room was named in Wilder's honor, she donated the handwritten manuscript to "Little Town on the Prairie" to the library.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 1

Also included in the collection is the original typewritten manuscript of "By the Shores of Silver Lake" and "Remember Me," one of the scripts Michael Landon wrote for the television series of "Little House on the Prairie."

She had wanted to check out the Gingerbread Sociable, an event the library hosts the first Saturday of every February since 1967 to celebrate Wilder's birthday. Sadly, it was over by the time we arrived. I still enjoyed looking at the Little House artifacts anyway.

Laura and Almanzo.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 2

Ma and Pa and Mary. Carrie, Laura, and Grace in the back.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 3

More Laura.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 4

Dolls.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 5

More dolls.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 6

Corn husk dolls!

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 7

I don't remember whose house this was supposed to be. I know Laura and Almanzo struggled financially for most of their lives and only started doing well when the Little House books became popular.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 8

Makes me want to do a cross-country road trip and stop off at Little House locations.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona 9

The Pomona Public Library's Children's Library has a great, pretty funny, website with all the happenings. Even without the birthday celebration, it's worth a visit just to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection, especially if you're a fan of the Little House books and television show.

Other things to do can be found in Explore SoCal.

Pomona Public Library Children's Library
625 S. Garey Ave.
Pomona, CA 91766
909-620-2043
Monday to Wednesday noon to 7 p.m.
Saturday noon to 5 p.m.
Closed Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

*****
1 year ago today, nectarine blossoms.
2 years ago today, Happy Year of the Rat!
3 years ago today, Canh Bi Tom (Vietnamese Wintermelon Soup with Shrimp).

17 comments:

  1. hi wc - what a cool post! loved the photos of the house (i really like miniatures) and the different dolls. libraries often have quite unusual collections. i've only read a few of the little house books. i always thought melissa gilbert was pretty too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh oh oh!

    I am a HUGE LIW fan, so what fun to see your post.

    FYI, Alligent (sp?) air now flies non-stop into Branson, MO - just over an hour from Springfield MO - home of Rocky Ridge Farm (her final home) and Wilder Days - a fall celebration where they even play Pa's fiddle.

    I am going to get there. I must. But Pomona looks far closer and easier now!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That little house, oh! The details are what I look for with things like these. WOW

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, wow. Gotta get out my old (full!) set of Little House to read with my daughter. I think this would make for a fine bedtime read. (After we've finished Charlotte's Web.) Thanks for the reminder--and for sharing those photos of the exhibit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. CC,
    I can't think of anyone else playing Laura Ingalls Wilder except for Melissa Gilbert.

    Oddlyme,
    Another thing we have in common! Isn't Branson where all those shows are held? I'd actually want to go to Walnut Grove, combining my love of the books and show. :P

    Kitty,
    I love dollhouses too!

    Tammy,
    I'm still working on acquiring them all. I've just been buying them at the thrift store when I come across one that I don't have.

    ReplyDelete
  6. WC -

    Yes, Branson is where they do all those shows. Silly I know but - way closer than any other airport and why not grab a bit of extra fun on the way?

    Walnut grove is cool, but all that is there is a replica of a log cabin - not laura's home. Whereas in Springfield - it is HER house! And amazing to see how she had her sugar and flour bins as window seats : )

    You might be interested in these books. The first one is a compilation, with pictures, of Laura's actual recipes (the lemonade is GOOD) --

    http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Ingalls-Wilder-Country-Cookbook/dp/006024917X

    The second is an amazing book that helps you recreate many of the foods she talks about in her books -

    http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Cookbook-Frontier-Ingalls/dp/0064460908/ref=pd_sim_b_1

    I have the whole series in paperback, but I hope to get it in hardback...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oddlyme,
    Springfield, MO was one of the two routes where the Oregon Trail started. I feel like if I made my way there, I'd have to drive the trail and re-create that history too. I've always wanted to do that. :P

    Ooh, I did not know about her cookbook. And it looks like lots of raves about her gingerbread. I have to try.

    I already own the Little House Cookbook. :)

    Have you read A Little House Traveler? It combines West from Home and On the Way Home, but also includes diary entries when Laura went with Almanzo to revisit De Smet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. WC,

    Oh! I have not read the Little House Traveler! Looks like a new book on the list for me...

    And of course you already have the little house cookbook, I should have known : )

    I have made Laura's gingerbread and sad to say, I did not love it. But I actually have issues with full molasses gingerbread, so it was not surprising. The ham with raisin sauce looks AMAZING though. It's also such fun to page through the book and they have photos of the house and her kitchen.

    You are very brave to want to travel the Oregon Trail. My! You'll have to blog the whole trip : )

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oddlyme,
    Hmm. I do like molasses and molasses cookies, so perhaps I will like her recipe? Ham with raisins though?

    Haha. I would drive the Oregon Trail though, not as daring as the original pioneers. I used to read so many nonfictional and fictional accounts of traveling the Oregon Trail. I remember stories of the dust and dryness along the way. And saw pictures of wagon ruts that were several feet deep and permanently scarred into hillsides.

    I always thought the fascination with the Oregon Trail was inherent to every Oregonian, but I think it's really just because I'm a nerd. :P

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well, I too love molasses cookies, so, dunno. Try her recipe and let me know!

    As for the ham? It actually makes some sense. It's a spiced raisin sauce, so kind of the same feel as ham with pineapple slicers or a nice spiced chutney. Maybe spiced fruits are a midwestern thing, my grandmother used to make spiced pickled peaches and they were divine!

    You know far more about the oregon trail then me - but then, I am not from Oregon. And we're not nerds, we're passionate historians! ; )

    ReplyDelete
  11. There's a Little House Cookbook?? How authentic is it? I mean, is it "in the spirit of..." published circa 1950s or did the recipes come from her notes? Hmm, bet it's a pretty rare book these days. Maybe one day somewhere in the future you might just maybe perhaps consider posting your favorite recipe?...;) Enquiring minds, etc, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tammy,

    The Little House Cookbook is a wonderful somewhat recent book, that gives you historical perspective on the recipes she wrote of, and helps you recreate them (hulled corn, anyone?).

    The Laura Ingall Wilder Country Cookbook contains Laura's actual recipes, taken from her notebook at Rocky Ridge Farm.

    Both are pretty darn cool.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oddlyme,
    Ah, well, maybe it's because I'm not much of a ham person? Did you read my posts on the Oregon Trail museums in 2009? You can find them in the Series: Oregon tag. I had so much fun wandering around the pioneer artifacts.

    Tammy,
    Yup, what Oddlyme said. The historical perspective talks about the role and importance of canning and preserves, preparing wild game, etc. I can probably do a cookbook review about it too. The recipes also have excerpts from whichever book they were mentioned in with a few paragraphs from the book. Who can forget ma's green pumpkin pie from The Long Winter? Or the molasses-on-snow candy from Little House in the Big Woods? There's plenty of illustrations from the Little House books too. It's really a wonderful cookbook to share with your kids.

    ReplyDelete
  14. That green pumpkin pie!

    I swear, Ma kept them from starving in so many creative ways, she was a Hero.

    (And somehow I missed your Oregon Trail posts. I'm off to read them!)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oddlyme,
    I ordered Laura's cookbook and am enjoying it immensely. Thanks for telling me about it!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yay! I'm so glad! Let me know when you make something with it (although for the pictures alone it's amazing). And thank YOU for your blog : )

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oddlyme,
    Haven't cooked anything yet, but dishes that intrigue me are the baked lettuce (?!) and Almanzo's favorite Swiss steak with canned mushrooms (how thrifty).

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by. I try to respond in a timely manner, but am not always able to do so. If you're awaiting a response, check the post in which the comment is made or click the "Notify me" option.

If you're not a blogger and you'd like to leave a comment, you can do so using your Google/Gmail account.

I welcome questions, discussions, and feedback, but please be mindful that this is my home online. I reserve the right to delete any comment that is anonymous or unknown, rude, promotional, or has a link.

Thank you for reading!