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 |
Your cordial and friendly letter warms my heart. I am not really crazy about class reunions4, but I would love to be
with you and Frances5 in the house6 where I have had so many happy
times. Moreover, I would like to see again all the members of the committee7. I remember them all very
well. But my doctor8 and his consultant both
say that I am not well enough to go anywhere this
summer. I had reservations forin the City of Mexico9 for June,
but I have had to give them up. Ever since I had a gall bladder operation10 three years ago I have had to
avoid excitement and keep the soft pedal on “emotions”—even pleasant ones. I always
took things rather hard, you may remember, but I had lots of vitality and quickly
got back to normal. Since that operation I don’t rebound rebound—I just stay very tired. A class reunion, 3plus the trip to
Red Cloud11, which I would have to make
and would
love
to
make, would just about do me in, I’m afraid. I still
have some dear friends there.
Sometime, when there is no reunion excitement, maybe you will let me slip into Lincoln12 and visit you for a few days. That would be lovely for me. We would be able to recall a great many happy things—and some very funny ones.
This letter, dear Mariel, is confidential. To you as a Committee member, I say only that I am not very well and cannot be in Lincoln on May nineteenth.
Please tell me where you will be this summer. I would like to write you again.
Affectionately WillaInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1706.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1706
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Mariel C. Gere1
- Date letter was written
- May 1 [1945]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
The year of this letter is established by the May 1945 celebration of the 50th anniversary of Cather and Mariel Gere's graduation from the University of Nebraska in 1895.
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Willa Cather Collection (RG2639.AM), Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
570 Park Avenue (New York City): The apartment Cather shared with Edith Lewis from December 11, 1932, until her death, located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, near Central Park. They had apartment 7D. Lewis continued to live there until her own death.
Cather and Mariel Gere were both members of the University of Nebraska's class of 1895, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in May 1945.
The Gere family lived at 805 D St in Lincoln while Cather was at the University of Nebraska. The house was moved in 1923 to 2811 S. 24th St.
Mariel Gere was one of the members of the committee organizing the 50th reunion of the University of Nebraska class of 1895.
Cather struggled with illness throughout the spring of 1942, and her gall-bladder and appendix were removed on 24 July 1942 by Dr. Allen Whipple at the Presbyterian Hospital (#2375).
Person Annotations
Gere, Mariel Clapham (1874-1960). Cather’s university friend; a teacher. Mariel Gere, eldest daughter of Charles H. and Mariel C. Gere, born in Lincoln, NE, entered the University of Nebraska's prep school in the same year Cather did. She and her sisters visited Cather several times in Red Cloud, NE. Both were members of the Union Literary Society until Gere joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority in 1892. Gere graduated in the science course and taught chemistry at Lincoln High until 1941. She also served on the Lincoln City Library board for many years. Cather and Gere remained friends and correspondents; Gere defended Cather from accusations that she had been arrogant and friendless during her university years.
Gere, Frances C. (1877-1965). Cather's friend. Frances Gere,
the youngest child of Charles H. and Mariel C. Gere, was born in Lincoln,
NE. She entered the University of Nebraska in 1894 and graduated in 1898.
Like her sisters, Mariel and Ellen, she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma
sorority and lived in Lincoln the remainder of her life.
Garbat, Abraham L. (1885-1968). American physician. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Garbat immigrated to the U.S. in 1892 and was awarded an MD by Cornell University in 1906. He was awarded the Cartwright Prize of the School of Medicine of Columbia University in 1919 for his work on typhoid carriers and immunity. He was Cather’s personal physician in New York City from as early as 1934, and she consulted him about her brother Roscoe Cather’s heart ailment.
Place Annotations
