Comments on: Old Trunk Reveals Curious Little House Treasure

By: Liz Holderman

Liz Holderman — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:27:19 +0000

Hello Holly -

You are lucky to have the letter! We are happy to help you value it but that will take a little bit of research. You can go the the “Ask a Worthologist” feature on WorthPoint and follow the instructions there. We’ll need to see a photo of your letter and perhaps a bit more information. Good luck.

Liz

By: Holly

Holly — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:17:43 +0000

I actually also own an authentic handwritten letter complete with envelope written in response thanking some school children from Washington state that sent her a valentine.I paid quite alot for it several years back, as I love Laura Ingalls Wilder, and couldn’t bear not having it. I am not interested in selling it,but was wondering if you could give me an idea of its worth for insurance purposes,please.
It is similar to the letter/envelope you have and dated March 1951.
Many thanks for your help!

By: John A. Bass

John A. Bass — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:51:00 +0000

Liz Holderman:

Yes! That would be great if the client, who bought the trunk could contact us, for we can help her. We are LAURA INGALLS WILDER researchers and experts, so we can answer any questions she has, or direct her in the right direction of what she needs to know regarding the letter or book.
I, personally, would like to purchase both the letter and book, but if not for sell, a simple scan of just the letter in color would be fine for me, for my collection. She could simply e-mail me that, if that is all she can or will provide. I would like to know alittle more about the back ground…such as whose trunk it was, etc. Perhaps, this can lead me to finding out who was GEORGE and RALPH! And what kind of connection they had with Laura. I would say, they were area neighbors (probably living in Missouri also) that was interested in her books and her newspaper articles.

Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,

John A. Bass – owner/operator/director
Ingalls-Wilder-Lane Historic Alliance
IWL Library & Museum
Shreveport, LA
Crowley, LA
Harlingen, Texas

By: Dot Simmons

Dot Simmons — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 23:04:05 +0000

I now have my grandfather’s humpback trunk which is filled with letters and documents some of which are letters exchanged between him and my grandmother with dates in the 1890′s. tWhat should I do with these. Would anyone have an interest. They were not famous, just country folks from southwestern Virginia.

By: Dot Simmons

Dot Simmons — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 23:02:16 +0000

By: Liz Holderman

Liz Holderman — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:51:23 +0000

Hello Joyce –

Thanks for your very good comments! Actually, this story was not meant to represent an appraisal result, but merely to share an intriguing find with those who are interested in Laura Ingalls Wilder. Also, some of the information is proprietary to the client. However, we thought there might still be interest in the contents of the letter itself and the background of its discovery.

Best Wishes,

Liz

By: Mary H.

Mary H. — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:58:17 +0000

Thank you for this story. I found it interesting. Having been born in 1957 (the year of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s death) I want to say that all my elementary school girlfriends were incredible fans of the Little House books. We read the entire series and discussed it many times. That was in the 1960′s before there was a TV series.

By: Joyce Rau

Joyce Rau — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:39:42 +0000

Ms. Holderman really didn’t give us any information here. Except for a cute story, she didn’t pass on the information on whose or which house the trunk was. In addition though mentioning that a few letter were sold at auction, she neglects to say for how much and only goes so far as to say this could be an indication of either A) non-interest or b) not so many signatures around after all. Which is it Liz or are all your appraisals as ambiguous as this one?

By: Liz Holderman

Liz Holderman — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:39:30 +0000

Hello Mr. Bass -

Thank you so very much for your post. WorthPoint will gladly pass on your kind offer to the owner of the letter. Hopefully the owner will be interested in getting in touch with you!

Best Regards,

Liz Holderman

By: John A. Bass

John A. Bass — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:45:01 +0000

Hello! I hope this note finds the correct person.
As a LIW scholar and researcher, I can help in answering these kinds of questions, as I deal with this subject on a daily basis. I own and operate the INGALLS-WILDER-LANE HISTORIC ALLIANCE.

Where are these items that were found? Are they going to sell them? If so, I would like to buy them, so they can be placed for RESEARCH purposes for LIW and the LITTLE HOUSE researchers.

If these are not for sell, I would at least like a good scan of this letter, so that I may have a good copy of it.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

John A. Bass
IWL