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 |
A little advice, please! You will recall Willard
Crowell's5 letter about the Kansas6 pasture land. He did not say anything about terms of
payment. I took it for granted that his son meant to pay in
cash—perhaps because I always pay in cash and always have done so. I
merely told him that I preferred to be payed by a draft on a Chicago7 or New York2 Bank, and did not want the money deposited to my
account on the Red Cloud8 bank. My
Saving Bank pays me 1 ½ percent compound interest, while the Red Cloud bank
never gives me an a statement of the money
paid into my account. Each year I have to write urgent letters to get a
statement.
Soon after I returned ot to New York (about
September 1st, I think,) I got a deed from Howard Foe9, conveying the Kansas land to Henry Crowell10. I signed it before a notary
and sent it back to Foe. I had just learned of Willard's accident11, and of course said nothing
about payment in my letter. I asked Foe to have an abstract made; so that I
could claim loss on my income tax report. Will
Auld12 had loaned $3,000 on the land.
Now this is October 1st, and I have not yet had any word about payment for the land. If Henry Crowell finds it inconvenient to pay in cash, shouldn't I at least have a note from him? If not a formal "promise to pay" at least a letter?
I don't like to bother people in trouble—I simply don't know the proper business etiquette. As I remarked to Alfred Knopf13 a few days ago, "I'm not, and never have been, a business Woman." He shot his keen Jewish eyes at me and said; "I'd say you were a darn good one!"
With love to yourself and ladies14 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 OCT 1 1943 11-PM NEW YORK N.Y.2 OCT 1 1943 11-PMInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2209.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2209
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso. Includes one enclosure and one envelope, typewritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Roscoe Cather1
- Date letter was written
- October 1 [1943]
- Accompanying this letter
-
Includes one enclosed typewritten letter from Howard S. Foe to Willa Cather dated September 21, 1943.
- 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.
Crowell fell and broke his leg in late August 1943.
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.
Foe, Howard S. (1892-1960). Webster Count attorney. Born in Webster County, NE, Howard Foe was one of the five sons of Elizabeth and Samuel Foe; the elder Foe ran a billiard room in Red Cloud, NE. Howard Foe taught school to support his studies at the University of Nebraska law school, graduating in 1915. He became the Webster County attorney by 1920, later returning to private practice. In 1919 he married Vernon M. Storey, with whom he had two sons. In the 1930s and 1940s he did legal work for Willa Cather related to Webster County farm mortgages she held.
Crowell, Henry. Likely a member of Willard Crowell's family to whom Cather sold land in Kansas. No further information is available about this person.
Auld, James William (1876-1962) (“Will”). Red Cloud banker; Cather’s
brother-in-law. Will Auld was born in Marion County, IA, and
attended Simpson College in Indianoloa, IA. He worked at the State Bank of
Red Cloud (NE) from 1898 to 1938, first under his uncle W. T. Auld, who was
president of the bank, and then as president himself. He married Willa
Cather’s sister Jessica in 1904, and they had three children, Mary Virginia,
William Thomas, and Charles. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1933. While
Jessica and Will were still married, Willa Cather liked and trusted him, but
in the wake of the divorce, she blamed him for mismanagement of Cather
family financial assets. In later years, he lived in Lincoln, NE, and
remarried.
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.
Cather, Meta Schaper (1884-1973). Cather’s sister-in-law.
Meta Schaper was born in Plattsmouth, NE, the second daughter of
Robert and Julia Ramke Schaper. After graduating from the University of
Nebraska in Lincoln 1903, Meta Schaper taught at Havelock High School in her
hometown of Havelock, NE (now part of Lincoln). She met Roscoe Cather when
teaching in Fullerton, NE, and they married in 1907. They moved to Lander,
WY, in 1909, where she gave birth to three daughters, Virginia and twins
Margaret and Elizabeth. The family moved to Casper, WY, in 1921 and Colusa,
CA, in 1937. Willa visited Meta and Roscoe’s family in Wyoming several times
and shared important travel experiences with them, including a 1926 trip to
New Mexico with Meta, Roscoe, and their children and a 1941 San Francisco
vacation with Roscoe and Meta. Meta and Willa remained friends until Willa’s
death.
Brockway, Virginia Cather (1912-1984) (“West Virginia”). Cather's
niece. Born in Lander, WY, to Roscoe Cather and Meta Schaper
Cather, Virginia graduated from Natrona County High School in Casper, WY, in
1929. She received an A.B. in English from Smith College in Northampton, MA,
in 1933, the same year Willa Cather received an honorary doctorate there. In
1934, she enrolled in the University of Chicago School of Social Services
and was, for a time, a social worker. She married John Hadley Brockway, a
Navy officer, in 1936. They moved frequently until his retirement from the
Navy. She had one child, son George. In letters, Willa Cather sometimes
calls her "West Virginia" to distinguish her from her cousin Mary Virginia
Auld because Virginia Cather's birthplace in Wyoming was farther west than
Mary Virginia's in Nebraska.
Place Annotations
