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 |
Cather ⬩W⬩S⬩C⬩ My Dear Bishop1;
How good you were to send me word of the Distinguished Service Medal4. Recognition from another angle, from people not immediately associated with one's own line of work, has always a peculiar value. I am glad and proud for you. Not any prouder than I have been for many years, but it gives me a very personal pleasure and satisfaction to know that my own feeling is shared by hundred of people who have no connection with or interest in the Church. These people see you from another view point, as a man, a force, a lasting influence. I rejoice in this evidence that you have meant to countless families what you have meant to me and mine.
My grateful thoughts were with you and Mrs. Beecher5 on Christmas day.
Affectionately Willa Cather Dicember 27th1939 Bishop George A. Beecher1 Hastings3 Nebraska NEW YORK N. Y. STA Y2 DEC 28 1939 1030 AM
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2996.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2996
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso. Includes one envelope, handwritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- George Allen Beecher1
- Date letter was written
- December 27, 1939
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Willa Cather Collection (RG2639.AM), Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
George Allen Beecher received Distinguished Service award from the Kiwanis Club of Lincoln, NE, on 15 December 1939.
Person Annotations
Beecher, George Allen (1868-1951). Western Nebraska Episcopal Bishop.
Born in Illinois, Beecher moved with his family to Kearney, NE, at
age 14. He studied for the Episcopal priesthood at the Philadelphia (PA)
Divinity School, graduating in 1892, and then spent fifty-one years in
Nebraska as a deacon, priest, and finally Bishop of the Missionary District
of Western Nebraska. Willa Cather met him in Red Cloud, NE, in December 1922
when he presided at her and her parents’ confirmation as members of Grace
Episcopal Church. She and Bishop Beecher corresponded frequently
thereafter.
Beecher, Florence Idelia George (1867-1947). Episcopal churchwoman. Born in Kenosha, WI, Florence George moved to Kearney, NE, to teach school. In 1888 she met George Beecher there, and they married in 1893, after Beecher’s ordination as an Episcopal priest. They had one son and two daughters. In 1910, George Beecher became bishop of the Missionary District of Western Nebraska, and the family moved to Hastings, NE. Willa Cather came to know Florence Beecher after Bishop Beecher confirmed Cather and her parents as members of the Episcopal church in 1922. They seldom met but Cather included greetings to Florence Beecher in her letters to Bishop Beecher.
Place Annotations
