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 |
200 GUESTS The Shattuck Inn
and Annex ALL MODERN
CONVENIENCES AT THE FOOT OF MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN
JAFFREY, N.H. AMERICAN PLAN
OPEN ALL THE YEAR 10/14/27 October 8th My Dear Mr. Talbot1;
The copy of "America"3 containing your review4 of my book5 has only just reached me, and I want to thank you very heartily for your generous sympathy with my purpose. Myself, I simply call the book "an historical narrative"6. It is my publisher who insists upon calling it a "novel" because, to the general, "novel" means story, and narrative means nothing.
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR200 GUESTS The Shattuck Inn
and Annex ALL MODERN
CONVENIENCES AT THE FOOT OF MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN
JAFFREY, N.H. AMERICAN PLAN
OPEN ALL THE YEAR
I feel deeply grateful to you for your insight into the real purpose and feeling of the book—which was simply a strong and long-felt admiration of two noble lives7 and a long acquaintance with the country8 which was much more than the scene of their activities—It was so difficult that, in a manner, it was their life. Their daily story was the struggle with a beautiful and terrible and mysterious country.
Very gratefully, Willa Cather ACCOMMODATIONS FOR200 GUESTS The Shattuck Inn
and Annex ALL MODERN
CONVENIENCES AT THE FOOT OF MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN
JAFFREY, N.H. AMERICAN PLAN
OPEN ALL THE YEAR
If you would be kind enough to send another copy of "America" to me at this address9, I would greatly
appreciate it. There are no news stands in this village
little place2—one is cut off from
all printed things. I would like to have a copy of your review to send to
my father10.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0904.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0904
- Contents
- Document is three leaves, handwritten on recto only of each leaf.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Francis Xavier Talbot 1
- Date letter was written
- October 8 [1927]
- Place letter was written
- Jaffrey, New Hampshire, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Francis X. Talbot, SJ Papers (GTM-900914), Georgetown University, Lauinger Library, Washington, DC
Individual Annotations
Talbot praises Cather's sympathetic portrayal of Catholic priests and the centering of love in the novel--the love of two men for each other, for all humanity, and for God. On those grounds he calls it a romance, but he protests that the book should not be classified as a novel.
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
Talbot, Francis Xavier (1889-1953). American Roman Catholic priest and historian. Born in Philadelphia, PA, Francis Xavier Talbot was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1921. He edited America: The Jesuit Review, the Catholic Mind, and Thought; founded: the Catholic Book Club, the Catholic Poetry Society of America, the Catholic Theater Conference, and the Catholic Library Association; and wrote Saint Among Savages (1935), Shining in the Darkness (1932), and Jesuit Education in Philadelphia (1927). Father Talbot wrote to Willa Cather about Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) and Shadows on the Rock (1931).
Lamy, Jean-Baptiste (1814-1888). French Roman Catholic Archbishop and missionary. Born in Lempdes in Auvergne, France, Jean-Baptiste Lamy attended the seminary of Clermont and then the seminary of Mont Ferrand, where he met fellow student Joseph Machebeuf. Lamy was ordained in 1838 and assigned to a parish in the town of Chapdes, France. In 1839, he and Machebeuf traveled to the U.S., where Lamy served at a parish in Danville, OH, for 8 years. In 1849, he was appointed the head of the newly formed Vicariate of New Mexico and appointed Machebeuf as his Vicar-General. Lamy finally arrived in New Mexico in 1851, where he conflicted with priests who had served under a Mexican bishop. The Vatican elevated Lamy to Archbishop of Sante Fe in 1875; he retired in 1884. During their 1925 trip to New Mexico, Willa Cather and Edith Lewis became interested in the lives of Lamy and Machebeuf, and Cather based Jean Marie Latour in Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) on Lamy.
1069Machebeuf, Joseph P. (1812-1889). French Roman Catholic Bishop and missionary. Born in Riom, France, Joseph Machebeuf entered the seminary of Mont Ferrand, where he met fellow student Jean-Baptiste Lamy. Machebeuf was ordained in 1836 and served as a curate in Le Cendre. In 1839, Machebeuf and Lamy traveled to the U.S., where Machebeuf served as a curate in Tiffin, OH and then in 1841 as a priest in Sandusky, OH. When Lamy was appointed the head of the newly formed Vicariate of New Mexico in 1849, he appointed Machebeuf as his Vicar-General. He served as priest at Albuquerque (1853–1858) and at Santa Fe (1858–1860) before being transferred to Colorado, where he was elevated Vicar Apostolic of Colorado and Utah in 1868 and then Bishop of Denver in 1887. During their 1925 trip to New Mexico, Willa Cather and Edith Lewis became interested in the lives of Lamy and Machebeuf, and Cather based Joseph Vaillant in Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) on Machebeuf.
Cather, Charles Fectigue (1848-1928). Cather’s father.
Charles Fectigue (possibly Fectique) Cather was born in the Back
Creek Valley of Virginia, north of Winchester. His family were sheep raisers
who were largely, but not entirely, Union supporters during the Civil War.
He married Mary Virginia Seibert Boak, daughter of Confederate supporters,
in 1872. In 1883 he and his family followed his parents, William and
Caroline Cather, and brother George to Webster County in Nebraska, where
various cousins and uncles had also settled. Initially he ran a ranch in the
county but soon moved his family into the town of Red Cloud, where he had an
insurance and real estate business. Four of his children, Willa, Roscoe,
Charles, and Jessica, were born in Virginia, while three, James, Elsie, and
John, were born in Nebraska. Cather’s relationship with her father was very
warm: she made regular visits to her parents in Red Cloud and especially
enjoyed her father’s letters expressing appreciation of her novels. A week
after she concluded a visit to her ailing father in Red Cloud, he died of
heart disease. He served as the prototype for Hillary Templeton in “Old Mrs.
Harris” (1932).
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
America Magazine
"Willa Cather Eulogizes the Archbishop," America (September 24, 1927), by Francis, S. J. Talbot
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), by Willa Cather
