[Michlib-l] Wilder

Tue Sep 14 13:44:49 EDT 2021

Just a reminder, "Agree to disagree" isn’t a valid stance when one of those opinions is about dehumanizing large groups of people. 

As Journey said, we should always defer to the people who are directly harmed by offensive representation in our collections. A person’s lived experience will always outweigh any education that those outside of that community may pursue, especially considering that that lived experience also greatly influences their marginalization within our profession. 

And Lori, your statement “Actually, Wilder wrote about Native Americans in a good light,” is one I have yet to see proven. And considering that Native and Indigenous people are saying otherwise, we should be more likely to believe them in general, but also doubly so when you choose to disagree without any sources. 

And Amber, we can talk about some more historical context: Those of us who are not Native or Indigenous are community members on occupied land. The writers who portray Native people negatively are propagandizing whether they know it or not. We can – and should – look at these other representations that you’ve listed critically, but we owe a much greater debt to our Native and Indigenous peers. 

-Miranda 

From: "Amber Alexander via Michlib-l" <michlib-l at mcls.org> 
To: michlib-l at mcls.org 
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 1:23:22 PM 
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Wilder 

Let us put it into historical context: 

1. This is an opportunity to educate and teach children about the perspectives of the historical timeframe that the person lived in, explain why that is not acceptable in today’s world. 

2. Wilder is a first person account, that is a fact. Taking today’s writings about that historical era is not first person account. 

3. We know that history has portrayed other groups as uncivilized or unintelligent or murders. Let us look further into that. The monks of Western Europe portrayed the Vikings as “barbarians” and “uncivilized” but we now know that they had a very highly civilized structure, where women could hold seats of power, fought alongside their brothers and fathers and could divorce. We know Vikings were early explorers and also very agricultural. Does that mean we just do away with the monks history and writings? 

4. Greek and Roman historical writers always portrayed the Celts and other Germanic peoples in the same light “uncivilized barbarians” who were dirty and unkempt. However, we know that both groups had very cultural and artistic societies with their own laws and hierarchy. Yet, we still today rely on and read these writings into today’s colleges/universities. Basic humanities courses still teach these early authors. They are some of our firsthand accounts (even though we know what say is only that persons perspective of that other culture). 

5. Also, archaeologically, we know that early archaeologists (most especially during the Victorian era) suppressed and ultimately shamed other archeologists in the field who were making ground breaking finds on so many cultural societies but since that didn’t fit into the stereotype of the time, those archaeologist work were thrown to the wind. So much data and relics, lost, because it didn’t conform to the standards. History is finally bringing those shamed and on the fringe archaeologist to the light and so much new information has come about because of an open mind. 

6. Imagine if the Nazi’s did win, what would Anne Frank’s diary look like today….her book wouldn’t exist, and if it did, what would it be labeled as? 

We have to educate our children, not only about our history, but why it was wrong then, and what we need to do as a society to move forward. If we just make these books and first person accounts disappear, we are only starting at the beginning again. 

Amber 

From: Michlib-l <michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org> On Behalf Of Lori Rinaldi via Michlib-l 
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 12:36 PM 
To: Anne Heidemann <AHeidemann at sagchip.org>; Anne Heidemann via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org> 
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Wilder 

Actually, Wilder wrote about Native Americans in a good light, in her own opinions, but mentioned how other people were afraid of them , ect. She did mention being terrified during their war chants. 

Saying that her writing his armful to any group is wrong. Read the books. Don't just believe some hype. 

Not wanting to start a fight here. but I have studied LIW very closely, esp in my grad years. 

But I do respect you opinion. I just disagree with it. 

Lori Rinaldi 

On 09/14/2021 10:24 AM Anne Heidemann via Michlib-l < [ mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org | michlib-l at mcls.org ] > wrote: 

Boozhoo (hello), Michigan library community, 

I wanted to share some information about Wilder and her Little House books that not everyone may be thinking about. In my role serving as the Tribal Librarian for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, I have had the opportunity to study and think about this issue in depth and humbly share this with you. 

The content of Wilder’s works is actively harmful, not just to Native readers whose ancestors are supposedly portrayed in them, but to everyone who reads them and takes in those damaging depictions. They portray a vision of history as seen from a settler colonialist perspective that did not allow any room for the humanity of people who were not white settlers (in addition to the inaccurate depictions of Indigenous peoples, there is also anti-Black content). 

Many of us working in libraries may have fond memories of reading or having these books read to us when we were kids, but it is possible to separate those memories from the harmful content that accompanied them – to make a different choice when recommending books to today’s young readers. 

My suggestion here is that we choose to celebrate writers and books that include everyone’s humanity, and chose not to celebrate those which do not. 

There is quite a lot of writing out there about the damage that Wilder’s books do. Please contact me off-list if you’d like me to provide suggestions. 

Miigwetch, 

Anne 

Anne Heidemann, Tribal Librarian (she/her) 

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Gindaaso-gamik - Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Libraries 

[ mailto:aheidemann at sagchip.org | aheidemann at sagchip.org ] - [ mailto:aheidemann at sagchip.edu | aheidemann at sagchip.edu ] 

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-- 

Miranda Cauchi (they/them) 
Adult Librarian 
[ https://www.wayne.lib.mi.us/ | Wayne Public Library ] 
3737 S. Wayne Rd, Wayne, MI 48184 
mcauchi at wayne.lib.mi.us 
734-721-7832 (ext. 705) 
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