• Letter ID: 1021
• Addressee: Greenslet, Ferris
• Date: 1930-10-20
• Repository: Harvard University, Houghton Library, Cambridge, Mass.

To Ferris Greenslet,  Oct. 20, [1930], from Jaffrey, N.H. ; Harvard 

Please send royalty check. Appreciates his sending Chief Justice Holmes's letter about My Ántonia. Enjoyed summer in France, but always prefers to spend fall in New England. P.S.: Please send copy of Laughing Boy to Jan Hambourg. W. S. C.  Willa Cather   [Stout #1021]

• Letter ID: 1039
• Addressee: Greenslet, Ferris
• Date: 1931-02-15
• Repository: Harvard University, Houghton Library, Cambridge, Mass.

To Ferris Greenslet,  n.d. [c. Feb. 15, 1931] , from the Grosvenor Hotel, New York ; Harvard 

Sending address of Deidrich Navall. Knopf sending Greenslet a copy of Archbishop, which she hopes he will send to Justice Holmes.    Willa Cather   [Stout #1039]

• Letter ID: 1993
• Addressee: Roseboro', Viola
• Date: 1941-04-11
• Repository: Drew University Library, Special Collections and Archives

To Viola Roseboro',  April 11, 1941 ; Drew U (Adams 166) 

[included with letter are: 1) newspaper clipping announcing that Jervis Bay in New Brunswick has been chosen as the location for a memorial to Capt. Fogarty Fegen, 2) typed copy of Oliver Wendell Holmes's July 25, 1930, letter to Ferris Greenslet about Cather's work, 3) typed copy of Oliver Wendell Holmes's March 24, 1931, letter to Willa Cather] Is sending a review of the Holmes-Pollock letters from the New York Times [Henry Steele Commager, "Justice Holmes in his Letters," New York Times, March 23, 1941, p. BR1, BR30], and suggests Roseboro' read them. Is reading the volumes herself, and is enjoying the exchange between the two towering figures. Was thankful to be mentioned in the letters, and will send her a facsimile of the letter written to Ferris Greenslet regarding the book Roseboro' heroically supported. Is also including the text of the note he sent to Cather when he was ninety years old, though it cannot represent the beauty of his penmanship. Justice Holmes's secretary was the cousin of a San Francisco friend [May Willard?], and told the friend he read Shadows on the Rock to Holmes. Wants to tell her about the terrific joy she has gotten out of delighting old men who thrilled her years ago, like Thomas Hardy and James M. Barrie. Thinks Roseboro', someone who helped her when she was a foolish young person, would appreciate these fruits of her labor. P.S.: Hand is still useless.  W.S.C. 

• Letter ID: 1981
• Addressee: Cather, Elsie
• Date: 1941-03-23
• Repository: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, Philip L. and Helen Cather Southwick Collection (MS77)

To Elsie Cather,  March 23, 1941, partial letter; pages 2 and 3 missing ; UNL-Southwick 

Has taken a good while to reply to Elsie. Many friends have been dying, and has been dictating sympathy letters to exhaustion. Must take satisfaction from the nice words of the late Justice Holmes in the morning's New York Times [Henry Steele Commager, in "Justice Holmes in his Letters" (a review of The Holmes-Pollock Letters, ed. Mark DeWolfe Howe, New York Times, March 23, 1941, p. BR1, BR30), writes "Willa Cather moved him, 'unexpectedly and deeply.'"] Needs such kind comments now more than she did before. Was glad to hear about the house Elsie built in Lincoln. Agrees with Edith that it was a very intelligent decision. Also pleased that Elsie did not solicit her advice for the choice, as she understands little about the current conditions in Red Cloud and Lincoln. Willard Crowell persists in writing letters saying everything will work out and even persuaded her to let Witwer put a well in the Jewell County, Kansas, land after the creek ran dry. Ran a deficit because of it. Crowell seems to think she would be unfaithful if she did not pay the taxes on the land. This is all to illustrate how little she understands how things are in Webster County. . . . [pages 2 and 3 missing]  PS: Sorry that she was so noncommittal about coming to Red Cloud for Christmas. Her hand has worsened rather than improved, and traveling is a real burden. Since she cannot commit to coming to Red Cloud soon, Elsie should do what she wants with the house. The orthopedist from Boston, who only comes to New York a couple of times a month, is the only one who has been heartening. Enjoy your new house.  Willie