Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
Some of these features are only visible when "plain text" is off.
| 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 |
Parker House3
Boston Tuesday Dear Mrs. Saint-Gaudens1;
If you come to Boston2 please do not fail to let me see you. I shall be glad to be of any service to you that I can. Have you tried Small, Maynard & Co? I think they sometimes publish verses by unknown writers, also Little, Brown & Co. I think "Songs of Pain and Renunciation" much better than "Songs of a Cripple" as a title4.
Cordially Willa Sibert Cather Mrs. Louis St. Gaudens1 Windsor5 Vermont BOSTON,MASS.2 FEB 4 1908 5-PMInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0134.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0134
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only. Includes one handwritten envelope.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Annetta Johnson Saint-Gaudens 1
- Date letter was written
- [February 4, 1908]
- Place letter was written
- Boston, Massachusetts, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens papers (ML-4), Dartmouth College, Rauner Special Collections Library, Hanover, NH
Individual Annotations
Parker House Hotel (Boston, MA): Built in 1855 and founded by Harvey D. Parker, the Parker House (now Omni Parker House) is the longest continuously operating hotel in the US. Cather stayed here a number of times in the early 20th century, before the Parker House was largely rebuilt in 1927. Located in downtown Boston, the Parker House was an important gathering place for writers, performers, and politicians.
The book was not published until 1924 as Songs of Overcoming, but St. Gaudens evidently asked Cather for advice about a title for her planned collection of poems by her brother Maurice Johnson.
Person Annotations
Saint-Gaudens, Annetta Johnson (1869-1943). American sculptor. Annetta Johnson was born in Ohio and studied at the Columbus Art School and then at the Arts Students League in New York City with Augustus Saint-Gaudens. She married Louis Saint-Gaudens, brother of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, in 1898, and both were associated with his work as well as pursuing independent careers. Annetta Saint-Gaudens illustrated a volume of verse by her younger brother, Maurice Johnson, Songs of Overcoming (1924), for which she consulted Cather on the title.
Place Annotations
