• Letter ID: 1760
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1947-05-14
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  [from Sarah J. Bloom, secretary] May 14, 1947 ; UVt 

Returning her reply to Cather's letter of April 17. She did receive it and read it before her death.   [Stout #1760]

• Letter ID: 1759
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1947-04-17
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Apr. 17, 1947 ; UVt 

Has been wanting to write but wanted to wait until she could write by hand. Injured the tendon of right thumb again and has had it in brace. Long ago promised an editor to write an account of their visit to A. E. Housman. Wants to mention how Dorothy rescued the occasion by talking about Latin scholarship, which provided an avenue of approach to him. Wants to be accurate. Is it right that she had come directly from studying with Gaston Paris in France, for her doctorate? Recalls that Housman found it interesting. Several people have sent dreadful manuscripts about Housman. Wishes a certain type of young men would not pine for Housman as they do. The word "lad" seems to exert a magic spell for them. Recalls that she and Isabelle had just come from Ludlow, and the word "lad" was quite common there, meaning any hired boy. P.S.: Didn't Housman teach Latin at the University of London? What branch of Latin?  Willa   [Stout #1759]

• Letter ID: 1747
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1947-01-03
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Jan. 3, [1947?] ; UVt 

Was happy to receive her greeting on Christmas morning. No, can't remember translating [Heinrich] Heine's "Three Kings," but finds it amusing to think of having translated from a language in which she didn't know a bit of grammar. Very like her to have done so! Is happy and busy.   Willa   [Stout #1747]

• Letter ID: 1668
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1944-05-26
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  May 26, 1944 ; UVt 

So long since she heard from her! Is sending a copy of letter to a Mrs. Kaufman, who wanted her to sit for a portrait. Never again! Many family events have kept her occupied, let alone the war. Has been drawn back in by the family net. Now has three nieces and a nephew living nearby. Has had little energy since the gall bladder operation. Is worn out from constant housekeeping, now that all of New York is burning soft coal. Please help Mrs. Kaufman understand.   Willa   [Stout #1668]

• Letter ID: 1624
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1943-03-31
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Mar. 31, [1943] ; UVt 

Read her article about France in the Yale Review. Meant to write but didn't know what to say and was down from appendix and gallbladder operation. Lost sixteen pounds. Recovering well now but sometimes wonders what is the purpose, when the world is being smashed up. Doesn't care to live to see the new world that is being promised. P.S.: But England and Churchill are admirable!  Willa   [Stout #1624]

• Letter ID: 1513
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1940-12-13
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Dec. 13, 1940 ; UVt 

Can't write, because hand in splints. Please send a copy of her write-up on Sapphira for the bulletin of the Book-of-the-Month Club. May have to spend Christmas season in hospital.  [Stout #1513]

• Letter ID: 1497
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1940-10-14
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Oct. 14, 1940 ; UVt 

Is unable to write by hand because of sprain. Now they are even on misquoting titles. Has regretted calling her last book "Seasoned Wood" [instead of Seasoned Timber]. Now Dorothy has called hers "Sapphira and the Slave Maid," which loses the doubling of the "r" sound. Glad she likes what she has read of it. Galley proofs need a lot of correction. Abandoned it in the middle when Douglass and Isabelle died, but had already written the epilogue, which was the target. Has overridden her reluctance to shift from third person to first because the incident such an important one in her childhood. Grandmother Boak a Confederate and lost two sons in the South's army, but cared about justice and actually did take Nancy across the Potomac. Postmistress was her great aunt, Sidney Cather Gore. Enjoyed hearing the southern speech in her mind as she wrote it, especially the black people's speech. Realizes their speech patterns are not consistent in the book, but house servants varied their speech. Might not have finished the book had it not been for the war, but writing it helped her escape the anxiety.   Willa   [Stout #1497]

• Letter ID: 1459
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1939-11-08
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Nov. 8, [1939?] ; UVt 

Read Seasoned Wood while at Grand Manan. Especially enjoyed Aunt Lavinia and Miss Peck, who has a great reality about her. Surprised she gave Mr. Hulme her father's middle name, since the character lacks Mr. Canfield's sturdiness and humor. The state of the world is very somber. Wishes people had never learned to refine petroleum.   Willa   [Stout #1459]

• Letter ID: 2155
• Addressee: Cather, Roscoe
• Date: 1939-10-23
• Repository: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, Roscoe and Meta Cather Collection (MS316)

To Roscoe Cather, October 23, 1939; UNL-Roscoe 

It was very nice of him to wait until after he recovered from his surgery before telling her about it. Has recently lost a couple of friends. The Scottish doctor on Grand Manan—the twins will remember him well—died after only a few minutes of illness. He was an outstanding man. Learned shortly after returning to New York that John B. Nash, her lawyer for many years, had died. The will he drew up in February is in the vault of his firm Breed, Abbott and Morgan at 15 Broad Street. Don't forget this. Will miss him, as he was a warm friend and counsel. Why would somebody as slight and un-athletic as Roscoe have a tear? Perhaps he is too slim? Hopes a local anaesthetic was sufficient. Virginia's letter would have persuaded her what a joy Elizabeth's baby is, if any persuasion had been needed. Never heard Virginia go on so! Has investigated the gravestones for their parents. Likes the Harrison Granite Company and the Vermont Marble Company. Will send him more information and pictures of her preferences soon. Thanks for the photograph of himself, a good likeness. She, Edith, and Miss Bloom admired it. Feels moved that Meta considered the striped stockings so special! Enclosed is a photograph which accompanied Isabelle wherever she went for many years. It was among her things when she died in Sorrento, and her husband sent it along with about six hundred letters she had written Isabelle, as well as every little thing she ever published, even the dollar-a-column newspaper pieces. Please send the photo back. Too bad he wasn't in it instead of Ben Brown!   W. 

• Letter ID: 1440
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1939-03-05
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Mar. 5, [1939] ; UVt 

Has not been writing many letters recently, except to family and to friends of Isabelle. In December 1937 brother Douglass came to New York to spend her birthday with her. He died on June 13, 1938, age fifty-two, the only joyful and attractive member of the family. On October 10 Isabelle died in Sorrento of nephritis after four-year illness, during which her loving though unreliable husband cared for her. This has been the hardest year of her life. Is enclosing a letter from Jan Hambourg. Please return it, but don't write back. Is worn out with letters about Isabelle. Enjoyed [the picture of ?] Dorothy's two granddaughters. Enjoyed having her two nieces with her at Grand Manan in the summers of 1936 and 1937. Both married this year—as well as three Menuhins! Likes Yehudi's wife. Appreciates receiving Dorothy's new book and will read it soon. Eyes giving her trouble, but what is worse is the trouble of keeping people away who want to come and comfort her. Doesn't want them; wants quiet for reflection.   Willa   [Stout #1440]

• Letter ID: 1446
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1939-03
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Monday [Mar. 1939?] , from Mohonk Lake, New York ; UVt 

By speaking of the two people themselves, she wrote the only comforting words possible. Douglass remained unmarried, was always available and always a lover of life. Isabelle grew more spiritually beautiful with every year. Has been here a week for rest. Glad Dorothy has been to Santa Fe. Would like to go back if it weren't for writers' colonies.   Willa   [Stout #1446]

• Letter ID: 1811
• Addressee:
• Date: 1935/1947
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To [ Dorothy Canfield Fisher ],  n.d. [apparently, from scrawling handwriting, very late or from one of the earlier periods when she had problems with her hand] ; UVt 

Hates to admit that the grouch in the enclosed picture was one of her classmates. Doesn't actually remember him.   W.   [Stout #1811]

• Letter ID: 1283
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1935-12
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  n.d. [December 1935] , Christmas card ; UVt 

Got back in late November after August and September in Italy and a month or so with Isabelle in Paris.   Willa   [Stout #1283]

• Letter ID: 2117
• Addressee: Cather, Roscoe
• Date: 1935-06-12
• Repository: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, Roscoe and Meta Cather Collection (MS316)

To Roscoe Cather,  June 12, 1935 ; UNL-Roscoe 

Is sending Virginia's letter back for him to keep. Clearly she is thinking through matters herself, and that is preferable to Roscoe's or Cather's doing the thinking. Thanks for the interest check. Did he get Mary Virginia's notification of her wedding? It was a beautiful ceremony in the "Little Church Around the Corner," the same church father liked to rest in when he visited. Both Mary Virginia and Adelaide looked lovely. Isabelle Hambourg insisted on going to the wedding in spite of her illness and even to the reception afterwards in Donovan's [Albert Donovan?] apartment. Has known Dick Mellen, the groom, since Mary Virginia's engagement last autumn. He is from a fine Vermont family. Liked to read the letters from his mother to Mary Virginia, which were so loving and gracious. Mellen is a smart, somewhat withdrawn graduate of Harvard Medical School and was Thomas Auld's roommate in Amherst. He even has met Mary Virginia's mother and father! Thinks it is a good match, and Mary Virginia will certainly be helpful to him as he develops a medical practice. For the next two years, however, he will be interning at Bellevue Hospital, which will be trying for them. Mary Virginia will continue to work at the library and will have to be alone often. Did not get involved with the decision, but once they determined to be married immediately, tried to be of help to them. Please forward letter to West Virginia if she is not with Roscoe. Will inform him of her own intentions later. Will stay in New York with ailing Isabelle for now.   Willa. 

• Letter ID: 1223
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1934-04-21
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Saturday [Apr. 21, 1934?] ; UVt 

Thanks for the flowers she sent. Hopes to see her in May. Left hand still in splints.   Willa   [Stout #1223]

• Letter ID: 1219
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1934-03-29
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Mar. 29, 1934 ; UVt 

Has to dictate this letter because of a sprain to the tendon in her left wrist, now inflamed. Is in splints and a sling, and surprisingly enough, can't write with right hand. Please visit next time she is in town.   Willa   [Stout #1219]

• Letter ID: 1186
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1933-06-22
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  June 22, [1933] ; UVt 

Has received a copy of the Herald Tribune article and sent it to Isabelle. Is grateful Dorothy wrote about her so nicely. Nowadays is happiest if she can forget the past, or at any rate her own place in past scenes. Has always been trying to escape herself and has been happiest when she was best escaping. Where have the years gone? Is happy when she can avoid thinking. Going to Grand Manan next week. Dorothy won't be going to Germany this year, will she?   Willa   [Stout #1186]

• Letter ID: 1165
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1933-02-20
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  n.d. except Monday [Feb. 20, 1933?] ; UVt 

Thanks for being so tolerant about the dates. It wasn't reasonable, but felt devastated about them. Hopes she will come see the apartment.   Willa   [Stout #1165]

• Letter ID: 1162
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1933-02-17
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  Feb. 17, 1933, telegram ; UVt 

Please leave out some of the dates, especially graduation from college. They make her feel old.   Willa   [Stout #1162]

• Letter ID: 1161
• Addressee: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
• Date: 1933-02-16
• Repository: University of Vermont, Bailey-Howe Library, Burlington, Vt.

To Dorothy Canfield Fisher,  n.d. [Feb. 16, 1933] ; UVt 

Is pleased with the article. Has corrected her birth date—December 7, 1876 [sic]. Seems strange to read a summation of her books. Yes, the common thread is escape. Still has that feeling of spaciousness and possibility when she takes a train west across the country. Unfortunately, just when she is enjoying that feeling the most she always feels the most homesick.   Willa   [Stout #1161]