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 |
QUEBEC4 July 8 Dearest Zoë1;
I think of you very often. I survived my Yale degree5—the heat in New Haven6 was frightful, and I have been here2 for ten days getting cool. I leave for the island7 tomorrow, and my address until Sept. 15 will be Whale Cove Grand Manan New Brunswick Canada
I know you'll be glad when your California8 engagement is over.
With love WillaInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0974.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0974
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Zoë Akins 1
- Date letter was written
- July 8 [1929]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
The year of this letter is established by Cather receiving an honorary degree from Yale University on June 19, 1929.
- Place letter was written
- Québec City, Quebec, Canada2
- Location of original letter
- Willa Cather Papers, 1899-1949, in the Clifton Waller Barrett Library (6494), University of Virginia, Special Collections, Charlottesville, VA
Individual Annotations
The Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, Canada, a luxury hotel that Cather and Lewis stayed in during their trips to the city in 1928-1930.
A woman (possibly Edith Lewis) stands against a wall with the Château Frontenac in the background. 1928-1930. Philip L. and Helen Cather Southwick Collection, Archives Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries.
On 19 June 1929, Yale University awarded Cather an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.
Person Annotations
Akins, Zoë (1886-1958). American poet, playwright, and screenwriter.
Akins’ friendship with Cather started in 1909, when she submitted
verse to McClure’s magazine, which Cather rejected,
advising her to stay with playwriting. Akins subsequently moved from her
hometown of St. Louis, MO, to New York City and achieved success as a
playwright. She moved to California in the 1930s, adding screenwriting to
her accomplishments. Her play The Old Maid (1935), an
adaptation of an Edith Wharton novel, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. In
1932, Akins married Captain Hugh Rumbold, a British theatrical designer and
director; he died eight months later. Cather and Akins carried on a lifelong
correspondence, with Cather writing affectionate letters that included both
commentary on her own works and criticism of Akins’.
Place Annotations
Grand Manan, New Brunswick, CanadaCather and Edith
Lewis frequently vacationed on Grand Manan Island during the summer and
early fall for about twenty years, beginning in 1922. For the first few
years, they stayed at the Inn at Whale Cove, a collection of cottages with a
main house operated by Sarah Jacobus. Cather and Lewis rented Orchardside
Cottage from Jacobus until they had their own cottage built. In 1926, Lewis
acquired land on Grand Manan, and construction was completed in 1928. Cather
and Lewis returned to this cottage almost every summer until
1940.
