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 |
and ANNEX ACCOMODATIONS FOR
200 GUESTS ALL MODERN
CONVENIENCES AT THE FOOT OF MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN
JAFFREY, N. H.2 Thursday noon Dearest M. V.1
Hug May Willard5 for me and tell her she might have stayed to protect me. I’ve had my morning ruined by three long distance telephone calls, Women Clubs in N.H.6 Mass7. & Maine8.
Some low creature has given me away. After this Mr. Marshall9 will answer all telephone calls.
My love, dear. W. THE SHATTUCK INN AT THE FOOT OF MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN JAFFREY, N. H.2 Mary Virginia Auld1 Baldwin HouseInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0848.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0848
- Contents
- Document is photocopy of one leaf, handwritten on recto only. Includes one envelope, handwritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Mary Virginia Auld1
- Date letter was written
- [October 7, 1926]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
October 7, 1926, was the Thursday before this letter was postmarked.
- Place letter was written
- Jaffrey, New Hampshire, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Bernice Slote, English Papers, 1870-1978 (RG/12-10-16), University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
Shattuck Inn (Jaffrey, NH): Hotel built in 1910 in Jaffrey, N,H owned and operated by E. C. Shattuck until his death in February 1933, when operation was taken over by his daughter, Eleanor Shattuck Austermann, and her husband George Austermann. Cather stayed at the Shattuck Inn many times, often with Edith Lewis, finding it a useful place to work. In 1947, Cather wrote of the Shattuck Inn: “I have never found any place where I could work in such peace and happiness as in the little rooms up in the top of the Shattuck Inn” (#1748).
Person Annotations
Mellen, Mary Virginia Auld (1906-1982) (“Virginia,” “M.V.”).
Cather's niece. Born in Red Cloud, NE, to Jessica Cather Auld
and James William Auld, Mary Virginia graduated from Red Cloud High School
in 1924 and then spent a year at Dana Hall in Wellesley, MA, to qualify for
admission to Smith College in Northampton, MA. In 1929 she received an A.B.
in psychology from Smith and then moved to New York City, where she found
work at Lord & Taylor before telling her aunt of her arrival. In 1930,
probably with Willa Cather's help, she secured a position in the Circulation
Department of the New York Public Library. In 1931, she entered the
library's internal training school and in 1932 was assigned to the Tremont
branch library in the Bronx. After Mary Virginia’s parents divorced in 1933
Cather took a quasi-parental role. She paid for vacations and when, in 1935,
Mary Virginia married Richard (Dick) Mellen, a graduate of Harvard Medical
School and roommate of her brother William Thomas Auld at Amherst College,
she supervised wedding arrangements. After Dick was commissioned as a doctor
in the Air Force, Mary Virginia—much to Cather’s
regret—accompanied him to Chattanooga, TN, where he was assigned. In
Cather's will, Mary Virginia was designated a beneficiary of the literary
estate.
Willard, Elisa May (1868-1941) (“May”). Librarian; Cather’s Pittsburgh friend. Born in Vermont, Willard graduated from Smith College in 1894, attended the New York State Library School from 1894-1895, and then moved to Pittsburgh to work at the Carnegie Library, where she served as Reference Librarian for twenty-two years. May Willard, Ethel Litchfield, Isabelle McClung, and Cather formed, as she wrote in a condolence letter to May’s sister Mary, a “little group” that “melted together” (#1540). Willard retired in 1917 and moved to California. Although only one letter from Cather to Willard is extant, they remained friends, and Willard visited Cather in New York City. She died in San Francisco, CA.
Marshall, Albert A. Shattuck Inn employee. Albert Marshall was born in Lunenburg, MA, and in 1881, he married Lucy Marie Shattuck, the daughter of Edmond P. and Rachel R. Cutter Shattuck, original proprietors of the Shattuck Inn in Jaffrey, NH. Lucy died in 1919 and was buried in Jaffrey. By 1920, Marshall lived and worked at the inn as a clerk. Cather was a regular guest at the inn beginning in summer or fall of 1917, where she became acquainted with Marshall.
Place Annotations
