The Little Colonel’s
Good Times Book
One of the many spin-offs of the Little Colonel series was the “Little Colonel’s Good Times Book.” This little book, mentioned in the stories, was a blank book sold for children to use as a diary of their good times. This little guest book page is for you to write what you think about our web site, or to add some of your memories of the Little Colonel stories. We get a lot of email that sounds like they could go into a Good Times Book, so we decided to give you the opportunity to write some of it here where it can be shared with other visitors to this site.
Click here to sign our Guest Book, or add your thoughts or comments
Read on for visitors’ messages:
From:
Sally Leonard
email:
calokate2<AT>yahoo.com
Date:
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Message
While I never read her stories I did however learn a poem in the third grade called Book Houses by Anna Fellows Johnson . When my own kids were in school and needed a poem I remembered that little poem and they all learned and used it. Teachers just loved that poem . Then my granddaughter learned and used the poem in school I’m sure my Great grandchildren will continue with our tradition Thank You Anna Fellows Johnson
From:
Abigail Banks Dennison
email:
mabanks4<AT>yahoo.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Message
As a child I read “The Little Colonel” series and loved them. They were magical to me and I read them over and over. Would love to find copies to read to my granddaughter. abd
From:
Robert B.J. Puckett
email:
B.jeezy97<AT>yahoo.com
Date:
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Message
Great story, I enjoyed it. I worked on this house 02/25/2012, painting a laundry room on the rear of the house with my wife. My dad has done several plumbing service calls on the house in the last 38 years. Beautiful house. Would love to live there…
From:
Gerri Horka
email:
Date:
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Message
As a child I was given the entire Little Colonel set, book by book, for my birthday & Christmas gifts. The 6 month intervals were ENDLESS! Over the last several years, one of my daughters has found some of the original copies and gifted me with them. NOW I can put them all on my IPad and re-read them once more.
From:
Jon P
email:
pjon13<AT>msn.com
Date:
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Message
I am in possession of Annie Fellows Johnstons rare book, “Songs YSame”. It is a 1st edition print and is inscribed by Annie Fellows Johnston to Mrs Henry W Lawton Christmas 1900. Annie hand wrote one of her poems in the front cover. Also in the book, under the poem, “Felipa, wife of Columbus” Annie has written a 6 line stanza to Mrs Lawton in reference to the death of Mrs Lawtons husband Henry W Lawton. This book IS for sale if anyone is interested. Please contact me by e-mail at pjon13@msn.com
From:
Paula
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo.com
Date:
Monday, April 13, 2009
Message
thank goodnes you are back in working order!!!!! missed you…..
From:
Karen
email:
karendq<AT>comcast.net
Date:
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Message
My mother read all the Little Colonel series to us – my sister and I – when we were kids. The books had belonged to her as a child. Sadly, the books were lost in a move when I was 11. In the 1980s I found a used book store near where I now live and asked the woman who ran it if she had ever heard of Annie Fellows Johnston or the Little Colonel series. She very politely told that she hadn’t but would be glad to look for them among the books that she received on a regular basis. It literally wasn’t 2 weeks when she called and said – “Guess what I just got!!” She had received, in a box, in fairly good shape, the set of Little Colonel books!! I bought them and gave them to my mother for Christmas in 1987. In June 1989, my mother died very unexpectedly and now the books are mine. I was so glad to get to share them with her again. They were a very important part of my childhood.
From:
Emily
email:
eeoldham<AT>gmail.com
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2008
Message
I grew up in a little town just down the road from Pewee Valley. I remember one summer reading all of the The Little Colonel series. It was a great summer! When I returned to school that September I formed a very secret club. With just two members not only was it secret, but small too. I was Lloyd and my best friend was Kitty. I recently visited the The Little Colonel exhibit in LaGrange, Ky and relived all of those great memories. Long Live The Little Colonel and the sisterhood of loyal readers!
From:
Diane Parker
email:
Parkwdlds<AT>aol.com
Date:
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Message
I remember reading the Little Colonel books when I was a child and living in PeWee Valley. (I am now 60.) I loved them! Still have good memories of them. A friend who still lives in PeWee Valley sent the website to me–I plan to go back and re-read some. Thanks so much for this wonderful piece of history.
From:
nadine
email:
bailey_comus<AT>hotmail.com
Date:
Monday, November 19, 2007
Message
My grandmother owned most of the Little Colonel books. She read the first one aloud to my mom and hooked her ‘for life’ – just as she hooked me for life. I grimace at some of the non PC portions but i also realize that it stems from the culture of the time -rather than a genuine mean spiritedness.
i was shy and socially inept as a young woman. i learned a lot about how to interact with the world around me from these books. the characters are not perfect, but they exhibit a lot of grace and kindness. During holidays one of my great pleasures was the rereading of this series. Now that my mom has died these books are mine. It saddens me that i have no children to share these with, so this website encourages me to believe that my books will have a good time when i eventually pass on.
From:
Karin
email:
klkeller1<AT>msn.com
Date:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Message
I have loved these books for years, and today when I finally received my copy of “Mary Ware the Little Colonel’s Chum,” (I now have the complete set), I stumble across your wonderful site. Thank you for all your hard work, it is easy to see it is a labor of love. I will start planning my next vacation to stay at the Mansion. I was so excited to learn of Pearce connection to the family as I have roots that run deep in Carolinas and Tennessee, and possibly Kentucky. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
From:
Deborah Greenough
email:
debdpf<AT>verizon.net
Date:
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Message
The Little Colonel was a beautiful part of my childhood that I return to many times. I have been searching for the Little Colonel’s Doll Book, which I had as a child. It was lovely – had Rob, Lloyd, Kitty, Betty, Leland Harcourt – probably more characters – I don’t remember.
From:
Georgina
email:
geocolors<AT>gmail.com
Date:
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Message
Blessings to you!!!
Please add me to your list of upcoming events re AFJ Books and stories….perhaps one day i will tell you my story and how I became connected to The Little Colonel.
Done! And would love to hear those stories, too!
From:
Betsy
email:
Date:
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Message
Thank you so much – I just started re-reading this series and realized I was missing a few. They were my grandmother’s books from when she was a young girl in Kentucky in the early 1900s. She related to Lloyd and I grew up with the Little Colonel as a dear part of my life.
From:
Max Lee Cunningham
email:
cunningham_max<AT>hotmail.com
Date:
Friday, July 06, 2007
Message
While I have never read the books I happened upon this page by accident. My Grand Parents were Max L Cunningham and Ninna Clark Cunningham, she was the daughter of John A Clark and Ninna Coan of Oaklahoma. It is a pleasure reading these pages and I am now going to plan a trip to Cave Hill. Thank you so much for this web link…. Max L Cunningham
From:
Amy
email:
acortner<AT>gmail.com
Date:
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Message
I discovered the Little Colonel books in the late 1960’s. Our public library, built in 1895, had kept them through the years. I reread them so often that even now lines and scenes still come easily to mind. Thank you for the site. I am enjoying revisiting these books on-line.
From:
Sandra Wright Butler
email:
sbutler32<AT>cox.net
Date:
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Message
I, too, read the Little Colonel book at a young age but because the Flints and Dicks of Pee Wee Valley are relatives of mine. My dad’s mother was Flora Mae Flint, daughter of Annie Dick. When she married Samuel Allen Wright she was disowned by the family and, lo, the only views we got to see of the family territory were when we drove through it and when we buried my grandmother with her relatives in Cave Hill Cemetery. May she rest in peace.
From:
Olivia Devereux
email:
devereux<AT>terpalum.umd.edu
Date:
Friday, June 01, 2007
Message
I have loved the Little Colonel stories since I first discovered them. While I grew up in Texas, my mother’s side of the family hails from Louisville, Ky. I read the first volume and the last volume (the one where Lloyd gets married) at home. My mother and grandmother had these volumes. The others I read in the historical books section of the old Houston Public Library, where you have to read the books there because they are too old to check out. Since I read these in my early teens, I am sure they shaped my vision of many aspects of life. In fact, I credit the happiness of my marriage in part to the models portrayed by Annie Fellows Johnston.
I recently came across the first volume and the last in my library. I noted that the last volume is no longer well bound. It was printed in 1897, so it is no wonder. Do you know how I can get it rebound? Also, I would dearly love to have a complete set of the books, if reprints are for sale anywhere.
Can’t help with re-binding but click here for places to complete your set without leaving your seat at the computer.
From:
email:
rhondagilliland<AT>yahoo.com
Date:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Message
I ran across your site while doing a search on the Little Colonel paper dolls. It is very obvious that the Little Colonel series is much loved by many. I have both sets of Little Colonel paper dolls and was wondering if you have a recommendation as to where to sell them, Ebay?
If they’re complete and uncut from the books, send us your price! Otherwise, eBay is a solution. There are several people watching eBay right now for AFJ artifacts for the upcoming Little Colonel exhibit in late 2007.
From:
Deborah G
email:
debdpf<AT>verizon.net
Date:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Message
The Little Colonel books were an important part of my childhood – in the thirties – I sent to the publishers for paper dolls advertised in the edition I owned and received the beautiful book of paper dolls – Lloyd, Rob, Kitty and Allison, Betty, Leland Harker – they were exquisite and I would love to know if anyone else who still loves The Little Stories knows anything about them.
The Little Colonel Paper Doll Book was first published in 1910. Mary G. Johnston, Annie’s daughter and the model for the artist Joyce Ware in the stories, did the drawings. The Mary Ware Doll Book appeared in 1914. The original proofs of The Little Colonel Doll Book are currently for sale by a New York art dealer for around $7000 if anyone is interested. They contain some drawings not included in the final version of the book. We were offered the prints in 1999 from heirs of AFJ for $1500, but couldn’t afford them at that time. We found them recently for sale on at www.abebooks.com. Meanwhile the Culbertson Mansion counts the doll book as one of only three books by AFJ currently sadly not in our collection.
From:
Diantha
email:
dianthaparker at yahoo dot com
Date:
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Message
It’s lovely to find this site. When my grandparents moved into their Massachusetts house in the 1930s, it had (and still has) an entire library of children’s books and magazines dating from about 1880-1920 that the previous family had left behind. The whole Little Colonel series is there, which actually both my grandmothers had read as children—so my mother read them and then I read them. They’re unfashionable now for many good reasons…but they have a lovely way of making you feel like it’s all going to be all right. I never get tired of them, and try to pick one up at least once a year. Plus–historically–the cottage industry Johnston created is amazingly comprehensive and a real window into what girls were into at the time. I will add that while Johnston was very gung ho about education for girls, as you say, there is this inexorable sense that marriage is really where every girl should be headed to be truly happy, despite the independence of Joyce and a few other women. In some books it’s a little preachy. But hey, it was a different time…and the main emphasis is friendship. Many thanks again for your site. I’ll keep checking in! –Diantha (age 34)
From:
Jean S
Message
I just made my “biennial” visit to your site and have noticed all sorts of great
additions: your responses, your great long list of those who have found the Little
Colonel, etc., and, of course, the inevitable hacker :-(. Please add my message
to the guest book if you can.
Once, again, I’m the 80+, the second signer to your guest book. This time I want
to congratulate you for being able to put the Little Colonel series books on
line… a super service for those of us who either grew up with them or who want
to find a missing book. I still have my originals and have used the pictures when
teaching historic costume courses… a primary source!!
Thanks….. Jean S.
From:
Victoria Moore
email:
stonedance2000<AT>yahoo.com
Message
This is just to say thank you for having such an informative site. I have a poem written by Annie Fellows Johnston to my aunt, Alexandra Brackett and have been trying to do research on the author. It was also wonderful to see photographs by Kate Matthews. If I finally get to go to Peewee Valley this summer I will certainly try to stay at your inn. Again, thank you.
From:
Sue Moore
email:
smoore46<AT>optonline.net
Message
I was so happy to find this web site! I grew up reading all of the “Little Colonel” series. This really takes me back. I enjoyed it thoroughly and have book-marked it as a favorite place!
Sue Moore (a transplanted Kentuckian)
From:
Liza Young
email:
lizayoung<AT>comcast.net
Message
My mother as a young girl in Boston collected an almost complete set of “Little Colonel” books – I doubt she ever imagined back in the 1950’s that she would one day live in Kentucky or have a daughter who cherished the very same collection.
Thank you so much for putting together this web site, I have enjoyed learning some of the backstory of Annie Fellows Johnston and her works.
As a family we live in Kentucky only briefly, but we did see the “Little Colonel’s” home and at the time it was in a very sad state.
I can hardly wait to have a daughter of my own to introduce her to the joys of reading these marvelous books.
Again thank you so very much!
Liza Young, Boston, MA
From:
paula dempsey
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo.com
Message
i am now wondering who the model for eugenia forbes was in the little colonel books–any clues?? loved the picture of the cottage–keep up the wonderful, wonderful work!!
Barely a clue! Best we can come up with is from Annie’s autobiography Land of the Little Colonel (which alas we can’t publish on line ’til 2018 because of copyright). But Annie mentions some trips out East, and we think it may be someone she was acquainted with from there. That’s a pure guess. An early newspaper article looking at the series in retrospect stated that Eugenia was completely made up. Same source said that the Tremont’s were also fictional, but now we know it was a physician friend, Dr. Gavin Fulton’s boyhood memories she had in mind when she wrote The Story of Dago (1900) and its re-write as The Three Tremont’s in Little Colonel Stories Second Series (1931). So it’s all tied together with the Little Colonel. BTW, the monkey’s (Dago’s) real name was “Monk” Also think that may be the same Gavin Fulton mentioned in Louisville’s First Families (p. 30) http://www.kygenweb.net/history/ff_louisville/c2.htm . Another BTW, many of the other people on that page are buried near the Old Colonel or his brother Harry…….
All this came from google-ing right now on the fly… m’gosh! another lead! Dr. Gavin Fulton is at Cave Hill Section: 26 Lot: 174 (not far from the 2 Little Knights), died Sept 1953. Could this be Phil or Stuart Tremont??
Update 2/14/06: If Dr. Gavin Fulton (1873-1953) really is the model for (Dr.) Stuart Tremont, then his real life wife Mary Henri Peter (1874-1950) just could be a candidate for the model for Eugenia Forbes in a roundabout way. That’s a stretch, but it’s a lead as well. Now we’ll also need to find a little brother that could be the model for Phil.
From:
United States
email:
flamethrower<AT>viamyemail.com
Message
Great book. I just want to say what a fantastic thing you are doing! Good luck!
From:
Jenae
email:
Message
WOW! I was given this story by one of my friends several years ago and LOVED it. I was just getting ready to share it with my cousin when I decided for some reason to type the title into my search engine. I’m glad I did. I love learning about the stories behind stories and I LOVE seeing pictures. Thank you for this wonderful site. God Bless!
From:
Karen
email:
Message
I love this web site. To know that these books are based on actual people and places that I live not far from is amazing. I love the history of Louisville and Ky. I will buy the books and pass them to my grandchildren Thanks.
From:
paula dempsey
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo.com
Message
thanks for answering. it is hard for me to imagine the locusts as rental property, for i like to believe the books and have everything as it was in them. how does one find out the present owner’s name as i would be interested in contacting him/her.
Fear not, though so much of the Little Colonel stories is true to life, many details would necessarily have to be changed or re-arranged in order to make the stories flow. Another shock to you might be that of all the models of the characters, the one least impressed with the whole thing may have been the Little Colonel herself. Or so she tries to claim in her later years, maybe out of a sense of modesty. Yet as we see her playing along for the photographs as a young lady, we wonder…
As for the owner of The Locust, we know the name, but as we haven’t yet been in contact, out of respect for privacy we’ll need to keep that for awhile yet.
From:
paula dempsey
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo.com
Message
i have enjoyed the new picture that have been posted. i am interested in the locusts–any more photos–how about the interior??
Webmaster note:
Thanks for writing. If we ever find more pictures or interior shots, you can be sure they’ll make their way to the site. I can tell you that the Locust appeared to be rental property way back then, and the Old Colonel only rented it for a short time, though others in Hattie Cochran’s family had rented it off and on for awhile (that detail is from a 1969 Louisville newspaper article). Also The Locust seems to have been remodeled a number of times, maybe even a fire in the building some decades ago. Of the present day Locust, we have never seen more than the white glimmer behind barren trees during the winter season, respecting the no trespassing signs on the gate. If the present owner of The Locust finds this site and would be so kind, we’d be very grateful for an update and perhaps a picture or two.
From:
Jess Anne Thompson Andrews
email:
jess<AT>fea.net
Message
To my Granddaughters, Caroline,Kate,Sarah Grace, and Jane and Eva/ On my fifth Christmas,1936, my Aunt Carolyn gave me my first Little Colonel book. From then on she gave me the next book in the series until they were complete. All of these years I have cherished them and hope that you will read them too. I am mailing them off to your cottage in Michigan, where you are going to spend your Christmas holidays so that, like me, you may find a quiet spot in a festive day to be transported to Locust Valley for a few hours. Much love, Grandma
From:
Lloyd Hardin
email:
nikki<AT>skirtmag.com
Message
I was born in 1943 and grew up in Crestwood, Kentucky, just up the road from Pewee Valley. My first name is Lloyd and I remember how difficult it was to have a name like that when I was growing up. My grandmother introduced me to The Little Colonel stories when I was just a little girl, and I remember walking down the long road to The Locusts house with a friend who knew the then-owners when I was a young girl. I recently found the autobiography (The Land of the Little Colonel) of Annie Fellows Johnston in a used book shop…it was published in 1929 and it includes photos!
From:
Debby Greenough
email:
debdpf<AT>verizon.com
Message
How I loved The Little Colonel and reread the series enough to know the dialogue by heart. I have lost The Little Colonel Doll Book with Lloyd, Betty, Rob, Leland Harcourt and Kitty. How I would love to find it again somewhere –
Webmaster note:
check www.abebooks.com or www.alibris.com. It’s surely there.
From:
Becca Brown
email:
rebecca14brown<AT>hotmail.com
Message
I read my grandmother’s Little Colonel books as a girl. They had been well loved by my grandmother, and in turn, my mother and aunts. Now, many of my female cousins and both my sisters have read them all. We were thrilled to see your website – thank you!
From:
Brenda
email:
behaulk<AT>yahool.com
Message
I have just found her first orginal book of “The Little Colonel”. The copyright 1895 Twenty Third Impression January 1913. And I am from Indiana and I came across this sight w/ interest and fast anation. Let alone the fan of the Movie starting Shirley Temple. Couldn’t even ask for a better actor then her to play the main character. AWSOME!!!!!
From:
Amanthis
email:
amanthis30<AT>hotmail.com
Message
Hi, my name is Amanthis(32). My mother saw the movie.. Nice 2 know now where my name came from 🙂 Greetings from Holland! X
From:
paula dempsey
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo,.com
Message
i have read with interest the burial places of the main characters of the little colonel series. however, i am wondering if hattie cochran had an uncle that was killed in the civil war. you did not mention that. in the original story of the little colonel, she had an uncle tom whose portrait was on the wall with her grandmother amanthis. also, i would love to see some of the little colonel doll book on this site. i check this site at least once a week. i have recently re-read everything i have on the little colonel and all the books. i will love them always. i also have a ten-year old granddaughter that i read the little colonel aloud to, and she loved the part where lloyd throws the mud on her grandfather’s coat. she will love the other stories, too. thanks for evereything that you do!
Webmaster note:
Haven’t found an uncle yet, but how about a great uncle? The Old Colonel’s wife Amelia (renamed Amanthis for the stories) had a brother, James Anderson Pearce, who rode with Morgan’s Raiders and was killed Dec , 1861 at the battle of Hartsville, Tennessee.
So far we don’t have the LC Doll book, though we had the chance at the original proof with Mary G Johnston’s artwork. Couldn’t afford the multi-thou asking price. Then there was a Mary Ware doll book as well. Very rare.
From:
Wayne D. Lawton
email:
lawtonwd<AT>pngusa.net
Message
So interesting. Just learned about this web site from a letter published in The Lawton Ledger. It was a letter which Mrs. Mary Craig Lawton wrote to her husband after the death of a daughter. As a Christian, I was impressed by her faith which sustained her during this dark period in her life.
Wayne D. Lawton Elizabethtown, PA
Webmaster note:
This letter is at http://www.littlecolonel.com/Scrapbook/Mamie_from_Fort_Huachuca1887_to_mother.htm
The original is still in possession of the family
From:
MICHAEL BISCEGLIA
email:
DOVERPLAINS<AT>MSN.COM
Message
Hello – I am a retired naval officer and have reason to believe that another naval officer, Henry “Hank” Lawton Bagby (a submariner), with whom I once served (c. 1960) is the grandson of General Lawton of Geronimo fame. If I am correct, could you furnish me with Hank’s address if available? If I am mistaken kindly disregard this, and thanks for your attention.
Webmaster note:
Yes, Henry “Hank” Lawton Bagby, a submariner in the 1960s, was the grandson of General Lawton, and son Louise Lawton, “Elise” of the Little Colonel stories . Sadly, Hank passed away in 1999. We’re sending you contact info to the family by private email. Click for more on The Lawtons.
From:
Muriel
email:
meverhart<AT>earthlink.net
Message
I enjoyed looking over your list of all the Little Colonel’s books. I am right now looking at my copy of the Little Colonel Doll Book designed & painted by Mary G. Johnston. You have it dated at 1914, but that was the second printing. My copy shows the first printing was in 1910. How was Mary G. Johnston related to Annie Fellows Johnston? Were they sisters, or sisters-in-law?
Do you have a copy of the “Doll Book” in your museum? Would you like one?
Thanks in advance for any answers you may have!
Webmaster note:
Mary G Johnston was Annie Fellows Johnston’s real-life daughter, and the model for Joyce Ware, the artist, of the stories. In fact, most of the Wares are modeled after members of AFJ’s own family, e.g. Jack Ware = son John, Mary Ware = sister Albion. Suspect she may have been thinking of her own mother in Mrs. Ware.
And no, so far no doll book here, but we’re looking.
From:
Anne Meyer
email:
anneswhmeyer<AT>comcast.net
Message
I so loved my Little Colonel books, inherited from my father’s family. I have my originals and I have framed book lithographs from purchased copies displayed in my guest room. Anne Meyer
From:
paula
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo.com
Message
i would like to know more about hattie cochran–children, death, etc. please update her–thanks, paula
Webmaster note:
—We’ll try to get more up on that as our time allows. For now, Hattie married Albert Conrad Dick, and had two sons of her own. She lived until 1975 (around 85 years old), and now rests in Cave Hill Cemetery, Section A. (map)
From:
Elaine
email:
puploveeh<AT>wmconnect.com
Message
Love this site. I have the entire Little Colonel series given me by my Aunt because I devoured the books every time we visited them.
From:
Jean S.
email:
Message
My biennial visit to your site, once again pleases me that there are so many who have become attached to the Little Colonel Series. I just checked with Amazon.com and they still have the paper back versions. I don’t know whether they have the whole series, but do get a start there.
I was the 2nd person to sign this guest book; since then I’ve done a reread and appreciate more than ever the quaintness, but, believe it or not, the still valid messages that these books and very alive characters portray.
For the person who didn’t finish the series because Lloyd’s father was a Yankee, do keep on reading… a wonderful example of compromise and forgiveness… OH how we need this in the aftermath of the November Election and Iraq.
Jean S…. 80+, brought up on the series from the original books from my mother.
Webmaster note:
Thank you, and here’s wishing you MANY MORE biennial visits!
From:
Diane D Gross
email:
diane.gross<AT>pncbank.com
Message
My mom who lived in Crestwood Ky had a set of the Little Colonel Book which were ruined by flooding. I am trying to find her a new set. Any suggestions?
Webmaster note:
try www.alibiris.com or www.abebooks.com, or www.amazon.com for new paperbacks.
From:
Maureen
email:
chezmos<AT>aol.com
Message
I found your web site while searching for information about the History of Old Louisville. I must say, the name of the Church that your Colonel was taken to for burial was St. Louis Bertrand. I do remember somewhere in my addled mind full of trivia the Little Colonel Stories. Thank you for such a pleasant web site.
From:
Constance
email:
snowflakeopie<AT>yahoo.com
Message
Is the Little Colonel series being reissued? Can a person buy the books without having to buy the original ones? I first started reading the books when I was 12 and never forgot the gentility of the Old South. Those books forever colored my romantic views of the South.
Webmaster note:
see above and below
From:
paula
email:
shoeladymanager<AT>yahoo.com
Message
where can i get a LITTLE COLONEL DOLL book?? or at least see one.
From:
casey
email:
dmack2<AT>MINDSPRING.COM
Message
ANY IDEAS WHERE I COULD GET A GOOD TIMES BOOK? NOTHING ON EBAY-DO ANY STILL EXIST? HAVE A 3RD GENERATION DAUGHTER THAT WOULD LOVE ONE.
We recommend checking http://www.abebooks.com (5 copies available there now, though we have a feeling soon there may only be four) or www.alibris.com and the ever faithfulwww.ebay.com if you are patient. You’ll see one there every few months.
From:
Lucy Cole/Tampa, FL
email:
lcole14525<AT>aol.com
Message
I loved the “Little Colonel” books.They belonged to my grandmother and I read them when I visited her home. My mother had read them when she was little and so, we were 3 generations of readers and loving fans of these delightful stories.
From:
PAULA
email:
Message
I HAVE LOVED THE LITTLE COLONEL FOR YEARS–I GOT THE SET FROM MY GREAT-AUNT IN 1960, I STILL READ THIS SET AND LOOK FOR NEW ITEMS OF INTEREST REGARDING THIS SET OF BOOKS AND ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON. THANKS FOR SUCH A GREAT WEB SITE!!
From:
casey
email:
dmack2<AT>mindspring.com
Message
How thrilling after all these years to actually find people who loves these books as much as I do. I was given a few books as a start from my mother, who loved the series. Via the internet I have completed my collection and help by sister with her’s. We have many first editions. I introduced my 11 year old daughter to them this fall and “doled” them out with various lessons and advice as each story warranted. The lessons in these books are wonderful for children, especially in today’s culture (or lack there of) I hope she takes just a few of the ideals to shape her life. At least she knows now “where her mom is coming from”. Thanks for the website and information.
From:
Deborah
email:
j_barrie<AT>yahoo.com
Message
I am from Evansville, Indiana, and it was there that I found the entire series at the Williard Library in 1975. I fell in love with all of the characters, and my morals were largely shaped by what I read in these books. I was thrilled to find your site, and I am even more thrilled to read the guest book’s entries. I am so pleased to hear that I am not the only remaining LC devotee!
From:
Kelly Moss Chitwood
email:
kellychitwood<AT>yahoo.com
Message
As a lifelong devotee of The Little Colonel (I was born in 1962), I cannot tell you how delighted I am to discover this wealth of information about the real people who inspired this series. It is not going too far to say that Lloyd Sherman was my role model growing up, and I wish that some of the values so attractively presented in these books were more prevalent today. Now that I know that there is a real “Lloydsborough Valley,” I will certainly be a visitor one day. Thank you for this most informative site.
From:
Edith
email:
elamasters168<AT>hotmail.com
Message
I read the few Little Colonel books my mom and auntie introduced to me back in the 60’s from their childhoods. All these years I wished I could finish the series but thought that would never happen. How wonderful to discover this site and to be able to finish the series at last! Thank you so very much. And what a pleasant surprise to find so much personal information to discover about the author and characters. Again, Thank you!
From:
Jean White
email:
whitej2678<AT>msn.com
Message
How lovely to meet the Little Colonel again, some 65 years after I first enjoyed the few LC books that happened to be in our town library. Shortly thereafter they disappeared from the shelves. “Too old-fashioned,” the librarians said, in the late 1930s. What a joy to read, at last, the other books of the series, complete with the illustrations! . . . . .I’ve just finished the “Boarding School” book–how odd that the school had a telephone but no electric lights. Those girls in their ruffled dresses were using candles and oil lamps and making candy on a chafing-dish! How did they keep from burning the place down? . . . .I never tire of reading about the period covered by the books–roughly the Edwardian period. How innocent! How charming! Thanks for bringing us the books on the internet!
Webmaster note:
Apparently they didn’t keep from burning the place down. Most of the Pewee Valley School that this was based on burned in the late 1890s. Thanks for writing!
From:
Cathy Goodwin
email:
cathy<AT>movinglady.com
Message
I have almost all the series in hardback. The “Hero” book was too sad to keep. I love the series, and I wonder if young girls today are allowed to read the books. They’re so politically incorrect, although I suspect they were faithful to their era. I’d be interested to learn of any scholarly or critical articles and/or studies about the Little Colonel.
From:
John Manger
email:
www.johnmanger<AT>aol.com
Message
Great site. Harry Weissinger was my Great Grandfather. He was the brother of the old Colonel, George Washington Weissinger.
From:
Connie Brueckmann
email:
foxfields<AT>earthlink.net
Message
I’ve loved the Little Colonel books ever since I read my first one at age 8. (I’m now 57.) I still read them all at least once a year–They have been one of the most powerful influences on my life and the way I try to live it. I have always wanted to visit Pee Wee Valley, and wonder if anyone could give me some information about what (if anything) is left to see–I have “The Land of the Little Colonel” book, but that, of course, was printed sometime in the 30’s. So wonderful to find this web site. Also, does anyone know how to obtain a copy of an original “The Little Colonel’s Good Times Book”? I have original copies of all the other books in the series, and would like to add that one. My heartfelt thanks to whoever started this site.
Webmaster note:
in 2004, We’ll work on getting together a self-guided tour for the site of Pewee/Lloydsboro Valley, and the Louisville sites which must include “Old Louisville” and even Cave Hill where so many of the real-life models for the Little Colonel characters have found their final rest.
From:
Jane
email:
pjmarion<AT>compuserve.com
Message
I can hardly believe I’ve found a website for the Little Colonel. I live in France now, but was introduced to the Little Colonel by my mother when I was a child; her mother had read the books to her when she was growing up in the 1920s. My mother is now 87 years old, and we still talk about Lloyd and Betty, Mary Ware and Phil Tremont, as old friends. We just love these books! In the mid-1980s, I found the Gate of the Giant Scissors at Saint Symphorien outside Tours — or a part of it, at the home of someone living on the same land (the house was no longer…), who had found a part of the gates in an outbuilding. There were the “giant scissors”….my mother and I were absolutely enchanted with this discovery. The owner, a wonderful French woman, couldn’t have been more welcoming, and was delighted to learn the “story” behind this wrought iron object she had found. Your site is wonderful and I know all those who love the Little Colonel and her “chums” must be delighted to find so much information on your site, and share their memories. Merci beaucoup!
Webmaster note:
Follow-up to this
From:
Nancy
email:
Message
I wish the black characters were depicted otherwise than one-dimensional, to say the least – but in these very troubled times these lovely old stories still amuse and comfort me, at the ripe age of 60.
From:
Alice
email:
hukalice<AT>yahoo.com
Message
I have just read Joel a boy from Galilee by Annie Fellows Johnston to my two daughters and many nights have been moved to tears as the writer portrayed so well the love and gentleness of my Lord Jesus Christ . The book I have must be over 100 yrs old , bought second hand by my grandmother ! I was so anxious to see if it was still published that I went on line and am so happy to find this site and learn about the authors life also . This book is truly a precious book , written with such sensitivity to Gods word that it really brings you back 2000yrs . Annie Fellows Johnston must have really researched life in Israel at the time of Jesus in an incredible way , I cant imagine how she did that in the late 1800’s and no email ! Thank you for this site and for all your effort . I am writing from Ireland but maybe one day I will be able to visit historic old Louisville!
Annie Fellows Johnston did much of her original research for that book with the help of a scholar on the history of ancient Palestine….a rabbi.
—Webmaster
From:
Edith Jenkins
email:
edithjen<AT>msn.com
Message
I have loved the Little Colonel for many, many years. I read the entire series as a child, borrowing the books from a neighbor or the public library. As an adult, I have been able to obtain the Little Colonel books through used book stores and book searches. I now have the whole series. Although I am a 66-year-old woman, recently retired, I have been reading the books again recently. They still have their original charm and fascination for me, taking me back to a simpler time in my life as well as in our society. Thanks for the opportunity of posting this note. I’d love to hear from other “Little Colonel” lovers. Sincerely, Edith (Edie) Jenkins
From:
Danae
email:
Message
I’ve been searching the web for the past few weeks, *trying* to find the story “The Three Weavers”, but having no success. I was very excited to find it here, and was suprised to find that it was from a series of books. I am looking forward to reading them. Thank you! ~Danae~
From:
jan
email:
www.angel40019<AT>aol.com
Message
could you give me directions to the mansion or is it still there
From:
Scioto
email:
Message
My grandmother loved the Little Colonel books as a child in Des Moines. She was born in 1894, and used to talk about how much she would look forward to new adventures for Lloyd. In 1915 she married my grandfather, who was from Henry County, Kentucky, which is not too far from Louisville. His family had a farm, including an old house which had been a coach stop, inn and tavern in the old days. I always wondered if my grandmother somehow thought she was moving into the world of the Little Colonel when she married and moved to that farm. Alas, real life was very different. My grandfather hated the farm, hated his family, and took his anger out on his wife, and small child. My grandmother’s Kentucky fantasy, if that is what it was, ended in pain and divorce. Still, she loved the books, and when I was little, she tried to get me interested in them. It didn’t work, because back then I could never get past the fact that Lloyd was half Yankee. At least my father was a Kentuckian by birth, even if he didn’t grow up there. Or so I thought. This website, with the books available to read online, is a delight. Thanks to everyone responsible.
From:
Marjorie
email:
easycatbaker<AT>aol.com
Message
I think the set of Little Colonel books at my grandmother’s house must have been bought for my mother (born in 1910), but as soon as I discovered them, at about age 10, I fell in love with them. I remember making my mother read them aloud with Lloyd’s southern accent in evidence, something she found very hard! I only recently acquired a computer and am amazed to find on line so much interest in these books from so many people. I though I was the only person in the world to cherish these books in my heart. And what a treat to see pictures of the real Little Colonel and to find out about Annie Fellows Johnston and how these books got to be written. Three cheers for the Little Colonel, her friends and fans, and internet!
From:
sally
email:
cnsunshine<AT>hotmail.com
Message
I found a book of annie fellows johnston it is called in the desert of waiting.very good book .
From:
cnsunshine
email:
Message
I have a book written by annie fellows johnston it is called in the desert of waiting.sally neeld . cnsunshine<AT>hotmail.com.
From:
cnsunshine
email:
Message
i have a book written by annie fellows johnston it is called in the desert of waiting.sally neeld po box 403223 hesperia calif. 92340 cnsunshine<AT> hotmail. com
From:
cnsunshine
email:
Message
i have a book written by annie fellows johnston it is called in the desert of waiting.sally neeld po box 403223 hesperia calif 92340
From:
Pam Fowler
email:
preacherf<AT>fayette.net
Message
I have just found all the original copies of The Little Colonel series,in an old attic. I bought them today. I was thrilled to find your web page . The only thing I do not have is the “Good Times Book”. All but one of them is in good condition for their age I think. Thanks for the site!
From:
Betty Olson
email:
bbjolson<AT>aol.com
Message
I have loved the Little Colonel books always. We had the whole set in our house as I was growing up. I let my younger sister take half of the books and I had the others. I regret that to this day. I have had to scrounge around to find the books I didn’t have. Thank you for putting these books on line. I have printed the ones I need to round out my collection. No one in this area seems to have the books I need. My grandchildren are too old to start reading these books, but I have a great granddaughter and maybe she will be interested.
From:
Nicole E
email:
Message
In the eighties,I discovered The Little Colonel books in the school library and loved them at age eight. In high school I realized that libraries of the nineties weren’t stocking their shelves with the likes of my childhood heroine, Lloyd Sherman and my children would not be able to discover the books as I had, so I began checking used bookstores for the series. In college I found The Little Colonel’s Knight Comes Riding, a title my library did not have. Needless to say, I read it even now at least once a year! I have told my friends who know of this passion that I can spot the spine of a Little Colonel book 20 feet away! I am still working on the collection and hope that by the time I do have children, they will be able to discover Lloyd and her friends on our very own bookshelves. The web-site was a treasure. Thank you.
From:
Jean S.
email:
afs<AT>nrcts.com
Message
As the person who put the second message in this guest book I am delighted with the response you have had. These ARE great books for young people, especially now. I’m also happy to see that these readers have become as “hooked” as I have been all these years. Give me a reread any day rather than some of the current women’s magazines! Jean S.
From:
Marie Gregory
email:
mariend<AT>earthlink.net
Message
I have a complete set of the Little Colonel Books. Would like to find someone or place that I might be able to donate/sell them to. Even today I enjoy reading them. Marie
From:
suzanne schimpeler
email:
sschimpeler<AT>burdorf.com
Message
I grew up in Pewee Valley one block from the Beeches where I used to have tea with “Miss Mamie” who is Miss Mary Johnston. My sister and I would go up to the 3rd floor of the Beeches which was the studio and there we would play with the Good Times Books and the Doll Books! Miss Mamie was delightful!
From:
Rachel Fulton
email:
fultons11<AT>msn.com
Message
I love the little colonel books! I live in Evansville IN where Annie Fellows Johnston grew up, wrote ‘the little colonel,’ and is buried. I just visited her grave and on the stone are engraved the words ‘she being dead, yet speaketh.’ It was wonderful. A definate worthwhile spot to visit. If anyone knows the adress of the farm where Annie grew up, please send it to me. I can’t seem to find it , but would love to visit it.
From:
Billie Jo
email:
billie.bledsoe<AT>mail.state.ky.us
Message
From the day that I discovered these books, my life has been fulled for many adventures. And the web site has only added to it. I have been able to read the book and then see the places from which they took place. And lets not forget the road trips. My sisters and I have driven to Peewee Valley and visted Locust. (only the outside) and seen the cottage nearby. It was the most exciting thing I have done in a long time. My son and I have also seen the inside of the Culbertson Mansion. It brought tears to my eyes. I could never thank the men enough for allowing me in. It was heavenly. I have many other trips planned. and can’t wait. I have also been on ebay and bought several books. I only wish I have found The Little Colonel sooner. Better yet, to have met her and Annie, all the others… Thank you.
From:
JPC
email:
jc<AT>everyday-education.com
Message
I first read the LC book as a child in L.A., and they opened up a completely different world for me. The characters share the kind of ideals I want to live and to pass on to my children. I’ve re-read them many times, and am reading them once again. They are beautiful stories, and I love them, even though I’m 40 now.
From:
email:
Message
Thank you SO MUCH for this website!! I was elated to find it, and the specialest treat of all is that you can actually READ the books, right here, online! Amazing! I have missed the Little Colonel books ever since I had to give them back to the lady who lent them to me, and it is great to find them here, for free! I’m 19 now, but I still have a special place in my heart for them, and I think I’ll start reading them aloud to my younger brothers & sisters now that I know they’re here. The biographical info with pictures of the real people is also extremely interesting. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!! -R.S.
From:
email:
Message
I read all of “The Little Colonel” books when I was a young girl in Louisville and once met an old women who knew her. This made it very special to hear about Mrs. Johnson and her life. Barbara Wisnewski Robstown, TX
From:
Caroline
email:
news<AT>cdss.org
Message
What a delight to find your site. My grandmother gave me most of the Little Colonel books when I was young and I love them, and still read them, to this day. I’ve not known of the real people AFJ based her characters on — thank you for posting that information.
From:
Dana Fellows
email:
danafellows<AT>yahoo.com
Message
I was going to do a website about my grandfathers cousin, Annie Fellows Johnston, but you have done a wonderful job already. I do have lots of genealogy information on Annie Fellows and her family. Visit www.fellowsfamily.net for more information.
From:
email:
jalbert54<AT>directvinternet.com
Message
Great Web site. I have the complete original set of books. They are a joy to read
From:
Michael
email:
michaelstein20<AT>hotmail.com
Message
This is a wonderful site. My girlfriend loved hearing these stories growing up, especially those about Georgina. She swears there should be a third Georgina book though (because of the way the Service Stars ended). Does anyone know if there was ever a third or thoughts of writing a third?
From:
Patricia McBride
email:
pvpmcb<AT>alltel.net
Message
Thank you for this site. My stepson and his wife are living in southern Michigan, and I told my husband that we had to travel there by way of Louisville if I could find anything about the Little Colonel. I read the books in the early fifties. They are my mother’s, received as gifts in childhood in the twenties. I have most of the set and have always felt the characters were a great influence in my life. I have finally found a husband whose garments fit “like the falcon’s feathers fit the falcon”. He will detour through Louisville for me, although he has no idea what I am talking about. Thanks again for the site.
From:
Terence Fellows
email:
tf014a3243<AT>blueyonder.co.uk
Message
I live in England and have stumbled across this site our family seems to have travelled quite a lot.
Message
I have been devoted to the Little Colonel since I was in grade school in the early 50’s and was given one or two books in the series each year by my grandmother. My family was from Louisville and one summer that I spent with my grandmother, she drove me out to Peewee Valley to visit Hattie Cochran Dick and her husband who were friends of hers. I was so thrilled! I am still missing one or two books in the series and am always on the lookout for them. Thank you for your wonderful website. It is a link with my past and my family! Bless you!
From:
Lisa Dean
email:
lmcintyredean<AT>aol.com
Message
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this site. I have been hoping someone would create one for several years. I was probably 10 when my best friends (sisters) loaned me a LC book. Theirs belonged to their grandmother. Well I have a set and my 8yo daughter has a set beacuse I would NEVER part with mine. My husband took me to Peewee Valley and I have a picture on my dressing table that he made of me standing by the gates to Locust. And my best friends – they still are and we still talk about Little Colonel things. Maybe someday we can have a Little Colonel reunion?
Message
I have just read “The Little Colonel” for the first time, and am delighted with it. Thank you for providing this site.
From:
Nikki Dooner
email:
ndooner<AT>yahoo.com
Message
What a wonderful and well-organized web site! I had, of course, seen the Shirley Temple movie many times; it was one of my favorites. As a teenager and young adult, I became interested in collecting girls’ series books. I was out on a “hunt” with my boyfriend in 1977 when he brought me a rather dirty beige book: The Little Colonel’s Knight Comes Riding. “Is this one you want?” he asked. I kind of shrugged, not connecting it with the old movie at all. But it was only fifty cents, so (rather unenthusiastically) I bought it. It wasn’t until I got home and worked my way down through my bag of “finds” to it, that I discovered–oh glory!–there was a whole series of BOOKS about the Little Colonel! Wonderful books! Well, now I have the whole set, even a copy of The Good Times Book (which I always thought should be called Betty’s Good Times Book). All I need now are the paper doll books, which I have never even seen, except a page of reprints once. Is there still a Little Colonel store in Pewee Valley? Is there anywhere I could find the paper doll books? I probably couldn’t afford them anyway! Well, thanks again for a wonderful web site. I have rattled on long enough.
From:
barbara firm
email:
bfirm1736<AT>earthlink.net
Message
i am so happy to find this good times book!! i was given my first taste of the “little colonel” when my fifth grade teacher gave me 5 of the books when i had the mumps–many years ago!!!!i read them all at least once a year; i have to get the ones i don’t have from the libary. i love them so much.
From:
Pam Powers Rowden
email:
tapdance81<AT>hotmail.com
THANK YOU so much for this very special web site. I was raised in Shepherdsville, KY. I read the first Little Colonel story when I was 10 years old. Our library only had three, The Little Colonel Stories, The Little Colonel’s holiday, and The Little Colonel’s House Party. I knew then that I had to buy a set of my own. My Aunt Evelyn helped me to search for them at flea markets and antique malls. Over the next several years, we were able to purchase them all, including the Mary Ware books. These stories taught me a lot about life and the kind of person I wanted to be. I’ve lived in three different states and have always taken my books with me. I don’t think I will ever “out-grow” them.
From:
Jade Pawn
email:
stardust3000us<AT>yahoo.com
Hello! I’m a 13yr old girl so you can guess what kind of books i’m use to reading…..R.L Stine ,Pike…..and so on So when I started reading L.C it was so good to read something that is good for you mind i not one bit boring! I think if girls my age read the L.C sires they would learn alot and it would help them more then Harry Potter does. thank you so much for this site I think its great. All teen girls should read little colonel at boarding school.. it has a much needed lesson in it. Thank again! J.P
Message
I have been so delighted to have found the Little Colonel Web pages and looking through them has been a real pleasure. They have been an especial joy to me because the character Elise Walton was based on my grandmother, Louise Lawton (Bagby). It has been wonderful to be able to browse through the pictures of her and the rest of our family and some of her friends. She spoke often of her childhood in Pewee Valley and now I feel I have spent a little time with her there. Thank you – Kathy Bagby
From:
Jean S.
Delighted you have a guest book. I’d be interested to see some comments from young people who have read these books recently. Amazon.com recommends them for early readers (8 to 10) but I really think that the messages in the books are best read by the tweens. These books are over 100 years old and show a lifestyle completely different from our sex ridden/rock&roll popular culture. These are wonderful, romantic and idealistic stories with a true social purpose. From a Grandmother who read the originals handed down from HER mother :=)))
From:
Brenda Reed
email:
redbirdstate<AT>hotmail.com
Hello, how do? When I was ten I had read and reread all the Little Colonel books in our public library. The library had a sale twice a year and I was afraid that they might sell some of the L.C. books and I wouldn’t get there early enough to buy them. So I asked if they could be put aside for me (I was a very shy child, so you can guess how much it meant to me to get them!). When I came in the library that night all the L.C. volumes were piled up on the front desk. The librarian said, “Yours was the only name in them, so we decided to let you have them all.” And I got the nearly complete set for 10 cents a book. My sister, Linda, has that set now. I bought one in original bindings when she and I visited Peewee Valley and met Mary Mudd, who had a L.C. store at that time. It is true that Annie Fellows Johnston was effective in instilling values in her readers. I can’t count the number of times that her ideas and her phrases have come to mind when I am dealing with a problem. Thank you for a wonderful site. Brenda Reed, Weston, West Virginia
The Mudds lived in Olde Pine Tower and they did have a store in a separate building behind the house. It is now a garage. The family owned Bill Mudd Electric