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 |
I have to make a short talk3 at the Princeton4 banquet5 held at the Plaza Hotel, Thursday, May 4th. There will be several much better speakers6 than I, and I thought you might like to listen in on the radio. The speeches are to be given from 10 to 11 o'clock, P.M. New York2 time and will be broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company.
With love, WilliePlease tell Helen Mac.7 Carrie, and tell her I knew the baby's8 pictures at once (though addressed in an unfamiliar hand) from his likeness to his father9!
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1175.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1175
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Carrie Miner Sherwood1
- Date letter was written
- April 26, 1933
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Individual Annotations
A recording of Cather's speech, with her introduction, is available on the Cather Archive.
The Friends of the Princeton Library hosted a dinner at which the Pulitzer Prize winners for 1932 were announced. A previous winner from each category was asked to give a short talk. Willa Cather, representing fiction, discussed the history of the novel.
Other speakers at the Pulitzer Prize banquet included Robert Frost for poetry and General John J. Pershing for history. Pershing's speech alluded to his and Cather's background at the University of Nebraska.
Person Annotations
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.
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.
Sprague, Leon (1907-1967). Red Cloud lawyer. Born in Nebraska, son of Albert and Mary Sprague, Leon grew up in York, NE. He played football at the University of Nebraska, from which he received a bachelor’s degree (1928) and law degree (1930). He married Helen McNeny in 1930 and joined the Red Cloud, NE, law practice of his father-in-law, Bernard McNeny. He served as Red Cloud City Attorney and Webster County Attorney, and in the Nebraska state legislature during World War II. The Spragues had three children, Bernard, (Mary) Kiley, and Michael.
Place Annotations
