Mission of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy & Research Association

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy & Research Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder through research, events, awareness, and unwavering support for the museums and sites that honor her across the country.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association is the only group in the world that uniformly supports all of Laura’s homesites. LIWLRA has made significant donations to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri; the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet, South Dakota; Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder Association/Almanzo Wilder Farm in Malone, NY; Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum in Burr Oak, IA; Little House on the Prairie Museum in Independence, KS; Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum Pepin in WI; and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and Tourist Center in Walnut Grove, MN. We intend to make further donations to Laura’s homesites and other worthy Laura Ingalls Wilder projects in the future. We organize conferences that further scholarship about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We have the support of longtime LIW authors and researchers, including William Anderson, who called our first LauraPalooza conference in 2010 “the Cadillac” of Laura Ingalls Wilder conferences. If you love Laura and the Little House books, know this: we do, too. And we prove it year after year.

Diversity in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association (LIWLRA) supports efforts to bring awareness to racial injustice. We stand in solidarity with the efforts to eliminate racial prejudice in our country and beyond our borders.

We recognize that Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books have racist depictions in her books. We do not condone those hurtful words and images. The norms that were accepted in the 1930s about the 1870’s and 1880’s should not have been tolerated then and are not tolerated today by our organization. We share the pain that is palpable across the Little House community. We celebrate real-life characters like Dr. George Tan, the Black doctor who saved the lives of the Ingalls family when they were deathly ill in Kansas, and we recognize the struggle the fictional Laura had with racist attitudes against black people, Native Americans and immigrants. The good does not excuse the bad, but we can all learn to be better and question our own prejudices.

LIWLRA is committed to:

● introducing the world of Little House to a more diverse audience

● educating our audiences on diverse issues at conferences

● working on ways to elevate and support diverse audiences and causes

● supporting diverse presentations and not shying away from controversial topics

● increasing diversity among our membership and board members and

● ensuring our membership is open and inclusive to all

This is just a first step, and we will further develop our ongoing efforts in this space as we work to support underrepresented groups as a whole. LIWLRA is proud to be an organization and community where Laura Ingalls Wilders’ writings are discovered, analyzed and placed in appropriate time and place, while in a learning context.

Thus was born the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association.

This nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and research surrounding Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rose Wilder Lane, the Little House sites, and their legacies are the major sponsor for academic conferences and support the work of the sites and independent researchers.

We are a gathering space for scholars and fans, academics and educators—all who can contribute or are interested in learning more about these remarkable women.

History of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy & Research Association Mission

In the summer of 2009, a group of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans and researchers met in De Smet, South Dakota. We were concerned about Laura Ingalls Wilder scholarship and research because we knew the outlets for presenting research were all but nonexistent. We also knew that people committed to preserving the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder, needed a true north.

Thus was born the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association.

This nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and research surrounding Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rose Wilder Lane, the Little House sites, and their legacies are the major sponsor for academic conferences and support the work of the sites and independent researchers.

We are a gathering space for scholars and fans, academics and educators—all who can contribute or are interested in learning more about these remarkable women.

Meet the Board of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy & Research Association

LIWLRA Board consists of four officers and seven additional members, each serving three-year terms. Members may serve two consecutive terms and then rotate off the Board after their term expires. Thus, from time to time we have Board openings. If you or someone you know has a dedication to Laura’s legacy and the desire to contribute in a formal manner to LIWLRA, please let us know by submitting their information. (Contact Us Page link)
The LIWLRA Board meets every month via phone conference, and more often surrounding conferences. Conference work is done voluntarily and by committee.

Join Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association

LIWLRA is a recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 
Membership in the LIWLRA currently costs $25/year for individuals. Membership entitles you to advance notice of LIWLRA news via our e-newsletter, and priority registration for our conference, LauraPalooza. Every dime goes to support the mission of the Association, which includes the financial and promotional support of the many Ingalls and Wilder homesites and archives as well as gathering scholars, educators, and Laura enthusiasts at LauraPalooza. LIWLRA is always working to provide you opportunities to share in the wonderful Laura Ingalls Wilder/Rose Wilder Lane research being conducted around the globe.