Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum
Opens New Addition
For the last 46 years the Laura Ingalls Wilder
Memorial Society has been working hard to keep the memory of the famous
author alive for the thousands of visitors that come to De Smet each
year. Next week they will be celebrating an accomplishment that has
been years in the making, a new addition.
The new addition houses office space, inventory storage, a large
meeting room and most importantly curatorial storage. While many people
know what it is like to have an antique in their homes, not many are
familiar with what museums go through in order to preserve papers,
pictures and textile pieces from the past. Temperature, humidity and
light can all affect the objects and cause damage. Safeguarding these
items is the number one priority of the Society.
In planning for the project the Society called in conservation
specialist, Helen Alten, of Minneapolis, to look at how they stored
items and suggest improvements. Society Director, Cheryl Palmlund,
combined Altens’ guidelines with research of her own to come
up with a plan to safely house the artifacts. The main concerns that
affected the design were location, size, temperature and humidity,
security and lighting.
“We’re very happy with they way it turned
out,” said Palmlund. “This addition will preserve
Laura’s heritage for not just today but for many future
generations."
The Society will hold their open house on Thursday, November 20, from
2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Free tours of the new addition will be given.
Come and learn about how the Society cares for their artifacts and get
some tips on how to protect your family heirlooms The Laura Ingalls
Wilder Memorial Society is located at 105 Olivet Avenue, in De Smet.
The Ingalls family lived in De Smet from 1879 to 1928. Six of
Laura’s nine books were located in De Smet and recounted the
stories of Laura and her sisters growing up on the South Dakota
prairie. Each year thousands of visitors from all 50 states and many
foreign countries come to De Smet to visit the sites Laura wrote about
in her books.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society is a non-profit organization
dedicated to the preservation of the Ingalls and Wilder Heritages in De
Smet.
