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 |
I wrote you a note yesterday to thank you for the box of bittersweet, which brought with it so many happy memories. It carried wonderfully, and is still brilliant in a big bowl in my bedroom.
[missing]them! I certainly wish they would substitute Mari Sandoz’3 book4 for mine5. It would save my friends and me embarrassment, and from what I have heard of Miss Sandoz she would not be at all averse to any personal publicity.
I hate to trouble you about all this, but if these people are determined to descend upon you, there is no way in which I can possibly prevent it. So I think it is best to forewarn you.
Lovingly always, WillieP.S. I am enclosing two checks - one for the Red Cross and one for the Ladies Guild of Grace Church6. If you can have them cashed at once and have the checks returned to me by the bank, I will be able to add them to my list of charities in my 1944 income tax return.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1678.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1678
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, in fragments, typewritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Carrie Miner Sherwood1
- Date letter was written
- November 9, 1944
- 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
Grace Episcopal Church (Red Cloud, NE): Built in 1883, the Cather family joined Grace Episcopal Church in 1922. Cather and her siblings commissioned the installment of two stained glass windows in honor of each of their parents, as well as the altar rail in honor of their brother Douglass.
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.
Sandoz, Mari (1896-1966). Nebraska novelist and historian.
Born in Sheridan County, NE, to Jules Ami and Mary Elizabeth Sandoz,
Mari Sandoz had a difficult childhood under a violent and autocratic father.
When she was fourteen her family relocated from the Niobrara to the Nebraska
Sandhills. After graduating from the eighth grade at seventeen, she taught
at country schools and was briefly married to rancher Wray Macumber. In 1919
she moved to Lincoln, NE, where she worked various jobs and enrolled at the
University of Nebraska. After writing for many years with little success,
her book about her father, Old Jules (1935), won the
the $5,000 Atlantic Monthly Press Prize for nonfiction, launching her
writing career. Her other books include Slogum House
(1937), Crazy Horse (1942), and The
Cattlemen (1958). Willa Cather briefly corresponded with Sandoz in
1931 and was familiar with Old Jules.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
Old Jules (1935) by Mari Sandoz
My Ántonia (1918) by Willa Cather
