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 |
Crowell5 writes that you payed out
$152 90/100 in taxes
for me in Red Cloud6, But he does
not give description of land;
section, township etc.7 Without such description I cannot deduct
it from the amount paid out from my
income tax.
He says he himself paid $82.04 taxes on land in Smith County Kansas8 and St. Paul Neb.9. I see our tax inspector swallowing that! I wrote Mr. Crowell twice that I must have descriptions of land on which any taxes are paid. Surely he could get a receipt of amount and description of the land from the county treasurer, and the treasurer would be glad of the fee for making out such papers.
I have to make my Federal and State Tax out on March 4th, as immediately after that date, Mr. Lesser10, Knopf's11 business manager, goes out to visit the booksellers throughout the country. Any advice you can give me will be gratefully received.
Trying to make the air mail Willie FROM CATHER 570 PARK AVE3., NEW YORK CITY2 Mr. R. C. Cather,1 First Savings Bank of Colusa, Colusa,4 California. NEW YORK N.Y.2 FEB 24 4.30 PM ImportantInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2167.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2167
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso. Includes one envelope, handwritten and typewritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Roscoe Cather1
- Date letter was written
- February 24 [1940]
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Roscoe and Meta Cather Collection (MS316), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, 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.
Early in her professional life, Cather invested a portion of her income in farm loans to individuals in Nebraska and Kansas. Over time, she also acquired properties in the area, at least some of which she held until her death.
Person Annotations
Cather, Roscoe (1877-1945) (“Ross”). Cather’s brother.
Roscoe was born in Virginia, the second child and oldest son of
Charles and Virginia Cather. After graduating from Red Cloud (NE) High
School in 1895, he taught country school for two years, attended the
University of Nebraska in Lincoln for one year (1897-1898), taught high
school in Carlton, NE, and Oxford, NE, and finally became superintendent of
schools in Fullerton, NE. There he met fellow teacher Meta Schaper, whom he
married in 1907. They relocated to Lander, WY, in 1909, where he opened an
abstract office and where their three children, Virginia and twins Margaret
and Elizabeth, were born. In 1921, they moved to Casper, WY, where Roscoe
became president of the Wyoming Trust Company, and in 1937 to Colusa, CA,
where Roscoe and his brother Douglass had acquired a controlling interest in
the First Savings Bank of Colusa. Roscoe served as president of the bank
until his death. Willa visited Roscoe and his family in Wyoming several
times and shared important travel experiences with them, including a 1926
trip to New Mexico with Roscoe, Meta, and their children and a 1941 San
Francisco vacation with Roscoe and Meta. She also relied on him to handle
family-related business as well as personal financial matters, and he was
one of her chief correspondents throughout her life. Roscoe served as a
prototype for one of the twin brothers in the Templeton family in “Old Mrs.
Harris” (1932).
Crowell, Willard (1885-1963). Webster County farmer. Born in Indiana, Willard Crowell came to Webster County after 1900, probably to join his elder brothers Henry and Omer; he lived and farmed in the Batin area from 1910 into the 1930s. He and his wife, Adelma (known as Lulu), had four children, Clarence, Robert, Howard, and Geraldine. Crowell was elected sheriff in the 1930s. He also helped Cather manage Webster County properties she owned or had mortgages on; they sometimes had differences of opinion on these business matters, but she was concerned when he had suffered a disabling fall in August 1943.
Lesser, Joseph (1901-1989). Treasurer of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Born in Poland, Joseph Lesser immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1906, and he became a naturalized American citizen. He and his wife, Eva, and their children lived in Brooklyn, NY. He served for many years as treasurer of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. His office prepared Cather’s tax returns for her, and in her will Cather named him as a potential successor to Edith Lewis as her literary executor. Lesser died in Hallandale, FL.
Knopf, Alfred A. (1892-1984). President of New York
publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Knopf received his BA from
Columbia University in New York City in 1912 and founded Alfred Knopf, Inc.,
in 1915 with his future wife Blanche Wolf. They married in 1916, and their
son Alfred “Pat” Knopf was born in 1918. Cather chose him as her publisher
beginning with Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920) and
One of Ours (1922), partly because she was
dissatisfied with the promotion of her books by Houghton Mifflin but also
because she recognized the high quality of Knopf's books, as well as what
she regarded as his intelligent advertising. Knopf was noted for publishing
the work of leading European and South American writers in translation, as
well as original works. Knopf and Cather’s extensive correspondence
testifies to their mutual professional respect and to what also became an
important personal friendship.
Place Annotations
