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 wanted to write to you for a long time, but I have been terribly busy about infringement of foreign copyrights4, etc.
There is an old Russian proverb, "[missing]
Very lovinggly to you always WillieMy right hand5 has been tied up in its old steel brace now for six weeks. Doctor Ober6 looked at it last Sunday and said it must bear imprisonment for some weeks more.
The Russian Proverb— "A married daughter is a piece cut off" — Received morning of Apr. 24 – 1947—date of death— I destroyed this letter because it contained comments about Willie's family which I knew she would never want anyone but me to read— Mrs. R. C. Cather1 Villa–Riviera Hotel Long Beach3 California NEW YORK, N.Y. GRAND CENTRAL ST.2 APR 22 1947 11 PM FROM CATHER570 PARK AVE., NEW YORK CITY A married
daughter is a
piece cut off.480
150
630
3
1890 480
200
680
3
2040
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2467.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2467
- Contents
- Document is two leaves, in fragments, typewritten on recto of first leaf and handwritten on recto of second leaf. Includes one envelope, typewritten
- Person to whom letter was written
- Meta Schaper Cather1
- Date letter was written
- April [22] 1947
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
Though the letter is clearly dated, the postmark suggests it was mailed on April 22, indicating that the date of composition was likely April 22, 1947.
- 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
On 24 March 1947, Cather wrote twice to Alfred Knopf concerning foreign copyright troubles: about a "crazy" Austrian woman demanding she be allowed to publish German translations (#2749) and concerning an Italian "piracy" of My Mortal Enemy (1926) (#2750).
Cather significantly injured a tendon in her right thumb in November 1940 after signing hundreds of copies of her novel Sapphira and the Slave Girl. Her right hand was immobilized for months afterward, and the pain recurred often in later years.
Person Annotations
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.
Ober, Frank (1881-1960). Boston Orthopedic surgeon. Born in Mt. Desert, ME, Ober graduated from Tufts Medical School in Boston, MA, in 1905. He volunteered for service overseas in 1917 and spent two years as head of the orthopedic section of the U.S. Army Base Hospital No. 5 in France. On his return he rose from junior member of the visiting staff to chief orthopedic surgeon at Children’s Hospital in Boston and served as a clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School. About once a month he traveled to Philadelphia, PA, and New York City to see patients in consultation. In 1941, Cather was referred to Ober for her troubles with her right hand, and he prescribed and had constructed for her a metal and leather splint for her forearm and hand.
Place Annotations
