Library to Get $875,000
in Wilder Copyright Suit
A New York publishing house and the heirs of Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder have tentatively settled a lawsuit brought in 1999 by the Wright County (Mo.) Library System over the copyright to two of Wilder’s books.
Details of the proposed settlement came to light in a review of the hearing transcript, the Kansas City Star reported April 9. Under the terms, HarperCollins Publishers and the Wilder heirs agreed to contribute $875,000 to the library in return for its abandoning any copyright claim to Little Town on the Prairie or These Happy Golden Years.
Wilder’s 1952 will bequeathed the copyrights to the library upon the death of her daughter Rose Wilder Lane. But Lane, who died in 1968, passed the rights on to a friend, whose daughter Abigail McBride Allen gained control of them in 1971.
Wright County officials said that the contribution would be used to upgrade library facilities and improve patron services, especially in the Wilder branch in Mansfield, where leaks in the roof have threatened to damage computer equipment.
Posted April 16, 2001.
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