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 |
35 FIFTH AVENUE
New York November 14, 1929. My dear Mr. Vance1:
At last the picutre you sent to be autographed has reached me, and I will be glad to autograph it for you.
I do not however like the reproduction very well. I have among my papers in storage a few of the original photographs printed by Nickolas Muray4, one of the best New York2 photographers. If you do not mind, the first time I open my box in storage, I will send you one of these original photographs. I do not think you will have to wait very long for it.
Very cordially yours, Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0989.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0989
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Arthur T. Vance 1
- Date letter was written
- November 14, 1929
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Willa Cather Papers, 1899-1949, in the Clifton Waller Barret Library (6494), University of Virginia, Special Collections, Charlottesville, VA
Individual Annotations
Grosvenor Hotel (New York City): When Cather and Edith Lewis lost their 5 Bank Street apartment in 1927, they moved into the Grosvenor Hotel, where they continued to live until 1932. The hotel was located at 35 Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
Person Annotations
Vance, Arthur T. (1873-1930). American magazine editor and owner.
Vance began his career after high school as a journalist for the Bingham Leader. In 1896, he entered the magazine
field as editor of the Commercial Traveler’s Home
Companion and went on to edit several women’s magazines, including
the Woman’s Home Companion. His greatest success came
as the part-owner and editor-in-chief of the Pictorial
Review from 1907. His work brought Vance into contact with many
well-known authors, including Cather.
Muray, Nickolas (1892-1965). Hungarian photographer and fencer.
Born in Hungary to a Jewish family, Miklos Murai emigrated to the
U.S. at age twenty-one and changed his surname to Muray. In 1920 he rented a
studio and began a career in portrait photography. His innovative soft-focus
portrait technique made him immensely popular; he photographed many
luminaries, including Cather, in the 1920s and 1930s. His most famous
portraits are of Frida Kahlo, which he took throughout their ten-year love
affair. During the Depression, Muray shifted to advertisement photography
and became known as one of the preeminent color photographers as a result of
his color photographs published in mass-circulation magazines. Muray was
also a skilled fencer and represented the U.S. at both the 1928 and 1932
Olympics.
Place Annotations
