The Ingalls-Wilder Family Songbook: A Scholarly Edition

FAIN: FA-53147-07

Dale Cockrell
Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN 37203-2416)

Research, collection, and preparation for publication of 127 pieces of music referred to in the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in the Music of the United States of America (MUSA) series.

Embedded in the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) are references to 126 songs, many among the finest and most important in American music. Few such books in American literature feature America’s music so centrally, assign it such a major narrative role, and reference it in such rich abundance. Taken together, the books detail an extraordinary ethnography of music-making in 19th-century America. My project is to locate, collect, organize, and edit the 125 extant songs and tunes that constitute "The Ingalls-Wilder Family Songbook," and publish them in a scholarly edition as a number in the "Music of the United States of America" (MUSA) series, thus re-voicing an important part of the nation’s musical legacy.

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