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 asked Myra Hess5 to send you a photograph and I don't think she will forget.
Lovingly Willa Mr. S. R. Florance3 Red Cloud4 Nebraska NORTHEAST HARBOR MAINE2 APR 12 1945 4 PM Air MailInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1835.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1835
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only. Includes one envelope, handwritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Beatrix Mizer Florance1
- Date letter was written
- [August 12, 1945]
- Place letter was written
- Northeast Harbor, Maine, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Willa Cather Collection (Caspersen 54), Drew University Library, Special Collections and Archives, Madison, NJ
Person Annotations
Florance, Beatrix Elizabeth Mizer (1875-1963) (“Trixie,”
“Trix”). Cather’s childhood friend. Beatrix Mizer was born in
Ohio in a German-American family. They moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1884.
Cather later recalled that when she first enrolled in school in Red Cloud,
“Trix Mizer was the prettiest little girl I had ever seen.” They acted
together in an 1888 production of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Red Cloud
Opera House. Mizer graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1893 and studied
voice at the Chicago Conservatory of Music 1897-1898, qualifying as a music
teacher, and at the Chicago College of Music 1899-1900. She married Sidney
Florance in 1903. In 1909 the couple moved to Red Cloud, where they settled
and raised a family. Beatrix’s Chicago musical studies and return to Red
Cloud may have inspired elements of Cather’s novel Lucy
Gayheart (1935). Cather’s correspondence with both Florances began
as early as 1914 and extended through the 1940s.
Florance, Sidney Riddell (1877-1957). Canadian-American banker and amateur poet. Born in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, a younger son of Edwin Charles Florance and Margaret Riddell Florance, Sidney Florance emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1881. He was working in Chicago where he met Cather’s friend, musician Beatrix Mizer. They married in 1903, settled in Red Cloud, NE, and had five children. He succeeded his father-in-law, Benjamin Mizer, as head of the Webster County Bank, and handled local business matters for Cather when she no longer had family living in Red Cloud.
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.
Place Annotations
