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 |
The gratifying tribute4 in the World Herald5 was sent to me at once it appeared by my dear friend Mrs. W. A. Sherwood6, and has lain for weeks in my files in the section indexed “intimate personal friends.”
I love the collection of photographs! The portrait7 by Mr. Wallace8 seems to me to be what portraits so seldom are—a likeness! It is just you yourself. I am so happy that such a vigorous picture of you exists.
I have had a rather difficult summer. The intense heat of New York9 followed me all through Maine10 until I reache Mount Desert island11 a month ago. Here it is always cool. I have rented a lovely cottage, comfortably furnished, well heated, and surrounded by a beautiful garden. Food is scarce, as it is everywhere. It seems strange to live in such a hungry world.
Excuse a rusty hotel pen—I did not bring my own writing things with me. I shall be in New York again soon after Labor Day, and from there I shall write you at length.
With my truetrue love to
Mrs. Beecher12 and my Bishop,
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1637.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1637
- Contents
- Document is photocopy of two leaves, handwritten on recto of each leaf only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- George Allen Beecher1
- Date letter was written
- August 15 [1943]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
The year of this letter is derived from the appearance of the tribute to George Allen Beecher in the Omaha World-Herald on 30 May 1943.
- Place letter was written
- Northeast Harbor, Maine, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Bernice Slote, English Papers, 1870-1978 (RG/12-10-16), University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
Asticou Inn (Northeast Harbor, ME): Originally built in 1883 by A. C. Savage, the Asticou Inn was destroyed by a fire in 1899, but rebuilt by 1901. When the war and health considerations made travel to Grand Manan impossible, Willa Cather and Edith Lewis stayed at the Asticou in the 1940s, occupying a small cottage on the grounds of the inn.
Portrait of Bichop George Allen Beecher by John Laurie Wallace, which appeared in
the Omaha World-Herald on 30 May 1943.
Person Annotations
Beecher, George Allen (1868-1951). Western Nebraska Episcopal Bishop.
Born in Illinois, Beecher moved with his family to Kearney, NE, at
age 14. He studied for the Episcopal priesthood at the Philadelphia (PA)
Divinity School, graduating in 1892, and then spent fifty-one years in
Nebraska as a deacon, priest, and finally Bishop of the Missionary District
of Western Nebraska. Willa Cather met him in Red Cloud, NE, in December 1922
when he presided at her and her parents’ confirmation as members of Grace
Episcopal Church. She and Bishop Beecher corresponded frequently
thereafter.
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.
Wallace, John Laurie (1864-1953). Scottish-American painter. Born in Ireland to Scottish parents, John Wallace attended the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts where he became a favorite student of and frequent model for painter Thomas Eakins. Wallace first taught at the Art Institute of Chicago while also serving as director of the Society of Artists. In 1891 he moved to Omaha, NE, to teach at the short-lived Academy of Fine Arts and afterwards established a successful portrait practice and founded the Omaha Art Guild. In 1937, Wallace painted a portrait of Willa Cather’s friend, Bishop George Allen Beecher.
Beecher, Florence Idelia George (1867-1947). Episcopal churchwoman. Born in Kenosha, WI, Florence George moved to Kearney, NE, to teach school. In 1888 she met George Beecher there, and they married in 1893, after Beecher’s ordination as an Episcopal priest. They had one son and two daughters. In 1910, George Beecher became bishop of the Missionary District of Western Nebraska, and the family moved to Hastings, NE. Willa Cather came to know Florence Beecher after Bishop Beecher confirmed Cather and her parents as members of the Episcopal church in 1922. They seldom met but Cather included greetings to Florence Beecher in her letters to Bishop Beecher.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
"7 Decades with a Noted Nebraskan: Bishop George Beecher," Omaha World-Herald (May 30, 1943), by Eldon K. Langevin
Omaha World-Herald
