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 |
ANSD _____ December 10, 1935. My dear Mr. Connely1:
Sometime last winter, when I was abroad, you sent me a letter introducing two
professors who were going to do some work in this country3. Months after you wrote it your letter reached me in
Venice4, but a great many other letters
reached me at the same time and I am afraid I did not answer any of them. Your two
professors sound very interesting, and I am sorry I had to miss them. One of them,
I
believe, is a cousin of Mrs. TimothyAlpheous
Cole5 - whom I met in Canada6
some years ago and liked so much.
Yes, certainly, a great deal of water has gone under the bridges since the Bank Street7 days - for all of us - and life plays us all queer tricks. An academic career was the last thing I would ever have prophesied for you - which only shows that I was short-sighted. You have been happy in it, or you wouldn’t have chosen it.
Very sincerely yours, Willa Cather
