A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather

28 letters found

Search parameters

next

Results 1-10:

To Mrs. Helen StowellMay 31, 1889 from Red Cloud, Nebr.WCPM 

Won Latin prize at end of school year. Grades of 90 in rhetoric, 95 in Latin, and 100s in physics, astronomy, and ancient history. Teacher wrote a message in report card praising her literary interests. Has fixed up a room at father's office as a library. Is reading the Latin Bible, astronomy, geology, history, Homer, Milton, Swinburne, Ouida, and George Sand. Sister Jessie in school musicale yesterday. Mother, Mrs. Wiener, Mrs. Garber, and husbands [Charles F. Cather, Charles F. Wiener, and Silas Garber] had a picnic. Longs to go to Europe. Mary Miner doing well at piano. P.S.: As usual, Cather house is a gathering place for young people to flirt.  William Cather, Jr.   [Stout #2]


To Mariel GereSept. 5, 1891 from Red Cloud, Nebr.WCPM 

Thanks for invitation, but has promised to go to Louise's when she gets to Lincoln. Is packing.   William Cather, Jr.   [Stout #5]


To Mariel Gere,  n.d. [Nov. 1891?] note imitating a centered formal invitation, transcription by Bernice Slote ; UNL 

Please come to an informal supper at the rooms of William Cather, Jr., on November 26, 1891.   [Stout #8]


To Will Owen JonesJan. 15, 1896 [actually 1897] from PittsburghWCPM 

Won't be able to send material for newspaper until next week. Has met C. L. Magee, managing editor of two Pittsburgh newspapers and political boss of the city. Had a letter of introduction from an actress friend. Magee's office crowded with people, but he had a kind word for each, gave letters to several to help them get jobs. It was hard to ask a stranger for a job, but he encouraged her to come back. Asked her into his private office, said he would take some articles and there might be a job coming open on the evening paper.    Willa Cather   [Stout #34]


To Fred [Winifred Richardson, later Garber]Aug. 15, 1898, from Red Cloud, Nebr.WCPM 

Writing on family's behalf. Will be at home until first of October; having lots of fun. Is leaving for a ten-day hunting trip near Big Horn with Roscoe. Douglass handsomer than ever. Would like to demonstrate what good gin cocktails she can make. Hopes to produce a book of essays about the theater next winter. Plans to return to Pittsburgh because of job. Refused offer from the New York Sun that would have meant night work. Has had a happy year.    Willa Cather   [Stout #50]


To Fred [Winifred Garber?],  n.d. Sept. 1898?WCPM 

Wanted to ask about her future plans, but never had a chance to talk freely. Please explain to Mr. McNeny why she has been so little at his office— because wanted to spend as much time as possible with family.    Willa   [Stout #52]


To E. J. Overing, Jr.,  [President of the Red Cloud Board of Education] Apr. 30, 1909 [letter read at 1909 commencement exercises and published in the Red Cloud Chief May 27, 1909] ; WCPM , also Bohlke.

Had hoped to be there for commencement, but is leaving for London on business. Has kept up with Red Cloud schools through brothers and sisters. Remembers with love Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Goudy and Mr. and Mrs. O. C. Case. Mrs. Case, then Miss King, was principal when she first entered the school. Remembers her first teacher and some of her fellow pupils. Always tried to please Miss King, who helped and advised her all through high school—even tried to teach her algebra, an impossibility. Hard to believe it has been nineteen years since she graduated. Best wishes to the new graduates. They should try to live up to their teachers' goals for them.    Willa Cather   [Stout #159]


To Glendinning Keeble,  n.d. [prob. between May 15, 1915, and July 19, 1915] CMU 

Is offering a revision of the character of Jessie Darcey [singer Thea Kronborg accompanies in The Song of the Lark] and will be glad to revise more. Thea has control over her own fortune; was a liar and was lied to. She expected to marry Fred, despite the fact that her Methodist childhood would not have led her to expect it. She ended up punishing Fred for what she did herself. Won't make all this entirely clear, because doesn't want character of Thea to alienate readers. Isabelle is going away for a few days to rest.   [Stout #305]


To Ferris GreensletJune 30, [1915], from New YorkHarvard 

Likes the jacket, but the copy is wrong—Moonstone, Colorado, not Arizona. Also, Thea and Fred go to Mexico, not New Mexico. Wishes it could say something about her artistic growth in the cliff dweller ruins. Actually, not so very happy with the cover. Couldn't it be more like British edition of Pioneers? Henry James seems patronizing in his essay on the Fieldses.   Willa Cather   [Stout #311]


To Dorothy Canfield FisherSept. 2, [1916]UVt 

Just reached Red Cloud after a summer in New Mexico and Wyoming. Enjoyed Roscoe and his family, especially the twins. Made a talk about The Bent Twig [Canfield Fisher's novel, 1915] to a bridge club. Interesting that they both used the same kind of treatment for such different material. Sympathizes with the character who fled moral restrictions. The mother reminds her of a stalwart woman who came to visit Fremstad when she was in Maine—such wisdom. They have different groups of readers in Lincoln. Dorothy's think Cather immoral, and her own think Dorothy boring. All of Dorothy's readers want to believe Thea didn't live with Fred out of wedlock.   Willa   [Stout #366]


next