Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
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| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
The Grosvenor3
35 FIFTH AVENUE
New York January 16, 1930. My dear Carrie1:
I can only thank you for all the pleasure your nice long letter has given me.
I can't really answer it now, for one of my oldest and best friends is
slipping away from this world over in Philadelphia4, and I may have to go over there tomorrow. I
am enclosing a letter for Irene5,
which I beg you to forward to her. I shall be going out to Pasedena6 in a few weeks now. The
questions you ask me I will try
to answer later, when I am a little more settled in mind. What a wonderful
Christmas you must have had.! I think it was nice of John7 to remember me in all the
excitement.
I am going over to Philadelphia for my friend's funeral today—it is the Dr. Lawrence Litchfield8, of old Pittsburgh9 days.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1001.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1001
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only, with a handwritten postscript dated the following day.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Carrie Miner Sherwood1
- Date letter was written
- January 16 and 17, 1930
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Individual Annotations
Grosvenor Hotel (New York City): When Cather and Edith Lewis lost their 5 Bank Street apartment in 1927, they moved into the Grosvenor Hotel, where they continued to live until 1932. The hotel was located at 35 Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
Person Annotations
Sherwood, Carrie Miner (1869-1971). Sherwood, Carrie Belle
Miner (1869-1972) Civic leader; Cather's friend. Born in Waukon,
IA, to James L. Miner and Julia Erickson Miner, Carrie Miner was the eldest
of their children. The family moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1878, where the
Miner Brothers store became the largest in town. Cather remembered meeting
Carrie there. In 1884, Carrie, her mother, and siblings were confirmed in
the Catholic church. In 1888, she studied music at St. Mary’s Academy at
Notre Dame, IN. She married bank clerk Walter Sherwood in late 1889; they
had two sons. The Sherwoods travelled often in the West, and visited Europe
in 1930. They built a new house at 3rd and Seward streets in Red Cloud in
1908; Cather sometimes sent materials for Carrie to keep in its spacious
attics. Carrie Miner Sherwood led local Red Cross work during the two World
Wars, served on the Red Cloud school board and park commission, and was
active in the League of Women Voters and in the Ladies Guild of Grace
Episcopal Church. Cather corresponded with Carrie Miner Sherwood throughout
her life and dedicated My Ántonia to Carrie, model
for Frances Harling in the novel, and her sister Irene. Carrie was one of
Mildred Bennett’s chief sources for The World of Willa
Cather (1951), and was instrumental in setting up what is now the
Willa Cather Foundation in Red Cloud.
Weisz, Irene Miner (1881-1971). Musician; Cather’s lifelong
friend. Born in Red Cloud, NE, the youngest child of James L.
Miner and Julia Erickson Miner, Irene Miner was educated in Red Cloud,
graduating in 1898 and played with the Cather children as part of the play
town of Sandy Point and in amateur theatricals. She studied piano with local
teachers, such as Mrs. P.E.B. Sill, then went to the Chicago College of
Music from 1899 to 1901. She met clerk Charles Weisz, later president of the
A.F. Shaw insurance company, there; they married in late 1915, settling in
Chicago. She visited Red Cloud frequently, but also travelled in the
American West and then to Europe in 1921 and around the world in 1934.
Cather corresponded with Irene Miner Weisz for many years and sometimes
stayed with her in Chicago when travelling to and from the West. My Ántonia is dedicated to Irene, model for Nina
Harling in the novel, and to her sister Carrie Miner Sherwood.
Sherwood, John Wheaton II (1921-2012). Red Cloud banker. Born in Red Cloud, NE, only son of Clement Miner and Dessie Taylor Sherwood, John was named after his great-grandfather. A graduate of Red Cloud High School, he entered the University of Nebraska in 1939, but after the outbreak of World War II he joined the Navy in 1942, then the Marines in 1944, flying fighter planes. After the war he worked first for a bank in Lincoln, NE, and then the family bank in Red Cloud, People’s-Webster County Bank, starting in 1949; he became its president in 1969. He married Dorothy Ely in 1951, and they had two sons, Brad and James.
Litchfield, Lawrence (1861-1930). Pittsburgh physician. Born in Grand Rapids, MI, to General Allyne Cushing Litchfield and Susan Cordelia Carver, Lawrence Litchfield received a BA from Harvard University in 1885 and an MD from Bellevue Medical College in New York City in 1888. He began his career as a general practitioner in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1889. In 1898 he followed Ethel Herr Jones to Vienna and married her there, returning with her to Pittsburgh. They had three children, Ethel Carver (1899), Lawrence, Jr. (1900) and Margaret (1903). Cather met the Litchfields in their home in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 1902. He served as Chief of the Medical Service in the base hospital at Camp Lee, Virginia, and at Camp Grant, Illinois, during World War I. Cather trusted Dr. Litchfield’s medical judgment, seeking referrals from him for specialists and taking his advice to “take the baths” at Aix-les-Bains (#1987).
Place Annotations
