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 |
"Obscure Destinies"3 is going splendidly in London4. Myra HessHess5, the pianist, came over a month ago and said all her musical friends were talking about it, and John Galsworthy6 sent such interesting messages by her about each of the stories.
W.I feel so sad about poor little Bernard II's7 illness and this sad Christmas.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1138.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1138
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- [Carrie Miner Sherwood or Helen McNeny Sprague]1
- Date letter was written
- [December 1932]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
The English edition of Obscure Destinies was published by Cassell and Company Limited in December 1932.
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
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.
Sprague, Helen McNeny (1908-?). Cather's Red Cloud acquaintance. Helen McNeny was the only child of Bernard and Helen (Nellie) McNeny. She graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Omaha, NE, and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where she met Leon Sprague, whom she married after her graduation in 1930. He practiced law with her father, and they lived in Red Cloud, NE, where she was a member of the Literature and Art Department of the Red Cloud Women’s Club. They had three children, born in 1932, 1934, and 1938.
Hess, Myra (1890-1965). British pianist. Born to a Jewish
family in London, England, Myra Hess began playing piano as a young child,
studying at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1907 she made her debut, then
toured in Britain and Europe. She made her American debut in 1922, becoming
popular as a soloist and in ensembles. Cather became acquainted with her
through her publishers, Alfred and Blanche Knopf. Myra Hess was made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1936 and Dame Commander in
1941. During World War II, when bombings and curfews made evening concerts
impossible, Hess organized thousands of weekday lunch-time concerts by
eminent musicians.
Galsworthy, John (1867-1933). British writer. Born to a
prosperous family near London, England, Galsworthy attended Harrow and
Oxford University, then trained for the law. His first works were published
under a pseudonym, but after the success of his first play, The Silver Box (1906), he published his novels under
his own name. His best-known work is the trilogy known as The Forsyte Saga (1906-1921). In his time he was better-known for
his plays, which dealt with many social issues. He was awarded the Nobel
Prize for literature in 1932. Willa Cather read some of Galsworthy’s works
and apparently met him on one of his visits to the U.S. with his wife in the
1920s.
Sprague, Bernard (1932-1999). Red Cloud lawyer. Born in Hastings, NE, son of Leon and Helen McNeny Sprague, Bernard grew up in Red Cloud, NE; he attended the University of Nebraska and earned his law degree at the University of Denver (CO). In 1955 he married Barbara Flanagan, and they had four children. He served as Assistant United States Attorney in Lincoln, NE, from 1961 to 1963, then returned to Red Cloud to practice, serving, like his father, as Red Cloud City Attorney and Webster County Attorney, and then as District 10 judge.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
Obscure Destinies (1932) by Willa Cather
