The handwritten manuscript of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Town on the Prairie is the heart of the Pomona Public Library’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection. The donation resulted from the friendship between Mrs. Wilder and Miss Clara Webber, the Pomona Public Library’s children’s librarian from 1948-1970. Mrs. Wilder gave the manuscript to the library in 1950 when the previous library building was remodeled and rededicated. The children’s room was named the “ Laura Ingalls Wilder Room” at that time.

The collection also includes the original typewritten manuscript of By the Shores of Silver Lake and Remember Me, one of Michael Landon’s scripts of the television series Little House on the Prairie. Also on display are also copies of the original correspondence between Mrs. Wilder and Miss Webber, signed first editions of the “Little House” books and copies of the books in other languages.

There are two sets of Ingalls family dolls. Bea Brooks, a prominent Pomona doll maker, created one set in the 1950’s. The other was hand-carved by Minnesota artist Harvey Hultquist.

The Pomona Public Library continues to promote the books and heritage of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In 1967 the first Gingerbread Sociable was held at the library to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mrs. Wilder’s birth. A Gingerbread Sociable has been held the first Saturday in February every year since then with live music, pioneer craft displays and apple cider and gingerbread.

The Clara Webber Collection specializes in books about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family. These books are for use in the library only.

The manuscript, facsimiles of the letters between Mrs. Wilder and Miss Webber and other items from the Wilder Collection are on permanent display in the alcove off the Children's Room.