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 |
Your goodness to mother3 and to Margie4 fills my heart to the brim. All that you did
for Margie is a hundred times more precious to me than if you had done it for me
myself. I loved Margie with a tenderness that one can only feel for children and for
people who are a little different from others—people who never grow up in mind. She
was one of the deepest things in my life; more real to me, more dear to me than the
whole world full of people I live among. There was little one could do for her but
love her, and God knows I did that. One of the deepest pleasures of going home was
to cook things for her and to wait on her a little—she had waited on so many that
it
gave her pleasure to let
me[?] have me fix things for her. She knew that the best I had
to give was always hers, and I know it meant a great deal to her. For many years I
have seldom been able to pass her in the kitchen without taking her dear head in my
arms—and she would smile her strange, wise smile at me.
She loved all all the children, but I always liked
to feel that she loved me best. We understood each other so well. Though she was so
deaf, I never had to raise my voice to her. We were always very happy together.
I am fairly well, and am working hard on a new book “The Professor’s House”5 which I hope will be out next autumn. Wasn’t it funny about sister Jessie6 flying about in the movie7 world with “A Lost Lady”8? I knew you would see the humor of that.
My love to you, dear friend, and a deeper gratitude than I can ever express. WillieInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0754.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0754
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Carrie Miner Sherwood1
- Date letter was written
- November 16 [1924]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
The film A Lost Lady was released in 1924 and The Professor's House was published in 1925, dating this letter 1924.
- 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
Warner Bros. bought the movie rights to A Lost Lady (1923), and the film, starring Irene Rich, was released in December 1924. Jessica Cather Auld visited the set while the film was in production.
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.
Cather, Mary Virginia Boak (1850-1931) (“Virginia” or
“Jenny”). Cather’s mother. Born in the Virginia to William Lee
Boak and Rachel Seibert Boak, Virginia was educated in Baltimore, MD, and
was a schoolteacher until her marriage to Charles Fectigue Cather in 1872.
Her husband’s family were primarily Union supporters during the Civil War
while her family supported the Confederacy (three brothers served in the
Confederate Army although their mother opposed slavery). After her marriage
she tried to help unite the divided family. Four of her children, Willa,
Roscoe, Charles Douglas, and Jessica Virginia, were born in Virginia, while
three, James Donald, Elsie Margaret, and John Esten, were born in Nebraska
after the family moved there in 1883. Despite occasional differences, Cather
remained in affectionate contact with her mother, who remained in Red Cloud,
NE, where the family settled in 1884. After her husband’s death in 1928
Virginia Cather suffered a stroke while visiting her children and their
families in California. She spent nearly three years in a sanitarium in
Pasadena, CA, unable to speak. Willa Cather visited her there several times
but was unable to travel quickly enough from Grand Manan to Red Cloud for
her funeral and interment after she died in Pasadena in 1931. Virginia
Cather was the prototype for Victoria Templeton in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932),
which Willa Cather completed shortly before her mother’s death.
Anderson, Marjorie (1854-1924) (“Margie”). Cather family servant. Born in Back Creek Valley, VA, the daughter of Mary Ann and Asa Anderson, Marjorie accompanied the Charles Cather family to Nebraska, living with them for the rest of her life. She was especially devoted to the Cather children, who loved her in return. In her later years she became shy and reclusive. Cather based several characters on Marjorie: Mahailey in One of Ours (1922), Marty in the poem, “Poor Marty” (1931), and Mandy in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932).
Auld, Jessica Virginia Cather (1881-1964) (“Jessie”). Cather’s
sister. Born in Virginia and raised in Red Cloud, NE, Jessica
was the fourth child and second daughter of Charles and Virginia Cather.
After graduating from Red Cloud High School in 1899, she taught at a country
school and the South Side Grade School until her marriage to James William
Auld, a Red Cloud banker, in 1904. They had three children (Charles, William
Thomas, and Mary Virginia). After their divorce in 1933, she moved to Palo
Alto, CA, where she died thirty-one years later. Few letters from Willa
Cather to her sister Jessica survive, and particularly after Jessica’s
divorce their relationship was strained.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
The Professor's House (1925) by Willa Cather
A Lost Lady (1923) by Willa Cather
