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 |
This editorial3 gives, I think, the general opinion here in New York2. Certainly, the American newspapers were responsible for bringing the case to everybody's notice in England4, and for putting the lady5 in such a position that the man6 could not "give her up" even had he wanted to. He had to let himself in for trouble either way; if he placed "public usefulness and duty before private happiness" the Archbishops might have approved of him, but most of his people, young and old, would have regarded him as a cad. The woman had been so played on by searchlights that he simply couldn't turn her down. She may be a poor sort, but he doesn't think so.
It is very hard for a king to have any real friends, personal friends. He thinks she is one.
With love to you WInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1924.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1924
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten and handwritten on recto only. Includes one enclosed newspaper clipping.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Elsie Cather1
- Date letter was written
- January 14, 1937
- Accompanying this letter
-
Includes one newspaper clipping from the 12 December 1935 New York Herald Tribune entitled "A Great Fairwell," with red pencil markings bracketing the date of the clipping.
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Susan J. and James Rosowski Cather Collection (MS228), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Person Annotations
Cather, Elsie Margaret (1890-1964) (“Bobbie”). Cather’s
sister. Born in Red Cloud, NE, shortly before Willa Cather
graduated from high school, Elsie attended the University of Nebraska in
Lincoln from 1908 to 1910, before transferring to Smith College, in
Northampton, MA, from which she graduated with an A.B. in English and Latin
in 1912. She undertook graduate study at the University of Nebraska in 1914
and in 1916 received her A.M. with a major in philosophy and a minor in
English. At both the undergraduate and the graduate level at Nebraska, she
studied under Louise Pound. She began a career in high school teaching in
1912, when she took a position in Lander, WY, where her brother Roscoe then
lived with his family. She also taught in Albuquerque, NM; Corning, IA;
Cleveland, OH; and briefly Red Cloud, when illness in the family brought her
home. Her longest tenure as a teacher was at Lincoln (NE) High School, where
she began teaching in 1920, with Olivia Pound and Mariel Gere as colleagues.
Willa Cather's expectation that Elsie be responsible for aging family and
friends and for legal affairs after their parents' deaths sometimes brought
the sisters into conflict. Elsie Cather retired from Lincoln High School in
1942. She died in Lincoln.
Simpson, Wallis (1896-1986). American socialite and Duchess of Windsor. Born in Baltimore, MD, Wallis Simpson met King Edward VIII in 1931. Their relationship caused a constitutional crisis, as Simpson had been divorced twice. In order to marry Simpson, Edward abdicated the throne in 1936. The couple lived together in France before World War II and in 1940 moved the Bahamas, where Edward was installed as Governor.
Edward VIII (1894-1972). King of the United Kingdom and Duke of
Windsor. Edward VIII became King of the United Kingdom in 1936
after the death of his father, King George V, only to abdicate less than a
year later to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. After abdication,
Edward was given the title the Duke of Windsor and embarked on a jet-setting
lifestyle. During WWII, rumors circulated that he and Wallis were Nazi
sympathizers. Because Edward was a favorite of tabloids, Cather undoubtedly
saw reports of his exploits and on at least one occasion expressed sympathy
for him.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
"A Great Farewell," New York Herald Tribune (December 12, 1936)
