Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
Some of these features are only visible when "plain text" is off.
| 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 many kindnesses to thank you for and at some later time, when I am a little
more vigorous, I will write you a personal letter. I am now sending you a copy of
my
letter to Mr. Scheer3, the lawyer who makes
out my income tax return, and I have marked the passage which I hope you will
notice. I have not yet cashed the checks you sent me for Ocean Front Oil Company4 royalties for December and January
because a personal check of that kind complicates my bookkeeping, which I strive to
simplify. As you will see by the enclosed letter, my checks for interest and
dividends are never sent to my home
address5, but are sent to me in care of the Chase National Bank, Park
Avenue & 60th Street. The bank sends me an "Advice of Credit" when such checks
are received and deposited to my account. These advices I file as soon as they
arrive. This is the only record I need or have to keep. The figures taken from these
advices are used by the lawyer in the preparation of my income tax return. This
saves me a system of bookkeeping which would take a good deal of time - and which
would probably be very incorrect. I am very stupid about figures, due, probably, to
training my mind in another direction., or just to natural
stupidity.
P.S. Lately I have had several delightful visits with Helen Louise6. I grow more fond of her all the time.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2775.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2775
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only. Includes one enclosure.
- Person to whom letter was written
- James D. Cather1
- Date letter was written
- March 26, 1946
- Accompanying this letter
-
Includes one enclosed copy of letter from Willa Cather's secretary to Mr. Scheer dated February 25, 1946.
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Charles E. Cather Collection (MS350), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
Cather inherited shares in the Ocean Front Oil Company from her brother, Douglass Cather.
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.
Person Annotations
Cather, James Donald (1886-1966) (“Jim”). Cather’s brother.
James was born in Red Cloud, NE, the fifth child and third son of
Charles and Virginia Cather. James moved to Wyoming in 1907 to work with his
brothers Douglass and Roscoe. In 1913 he married Ethel Garber, and owned and
operated clothing stores first in Red Cloud and then Holyoke, CO, where the
family settled for a time 1920 before returning to Red Cloud in 1922. The
couple had two children, Helen Louise and Charles Edwin. In 1930 the family
moved to California so James could work in the oil business with Douglass
and his partners. Willa’s relationship with James was more distant than that
with her brothers Douglass and Roscoe, who were closer to her own age,
although she was very fond of his children.
Scheer, Alexander G. (1886-1958). American lawyer. Born in Austria, Alexander G. Scheer emigrated to the U.S. as a child, becoming a naturalized citizen. As a lawyer he specialized in copyright and was a senior partner of the New York City law firm Stern & Reubens, which advised both Cather and Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., on copyright matters. Scheer also handled Cather’s income tax returns.
Southwick, Helen Louise Cather (1918-2004). Cather’s niece.
Helen was born in Red Cloud, NE, to Willa Cather’s brother James and
his wife Ethel. Willa was a doting aunt on her visits to Red Cloud. In 1931,
Helen moved with her family to Long Beach, CA, where she graduated high
school and attended Long Beach City College. In 1939, Helen returned to Red
Cloud to help care for her maternal grandmother and then enrolled in the
University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where she met her future husband, Philip
Southwick. After graduating in 1941, she briefly returned to California to
work in the personnel department of Douglas Aircraft company, but married
Southwick in Lincoln in 1942, and then moved with him to Champaign, IL. When
Philip’s employment took them to Plainfield, NJ, she frequently spent time
with her aunt in New York City. In 1946, the Southwicks moved to Pittsburgh,
PA, where their son James was born. In later years Helen worked as a school
librarian and was active in the Cather Foundation in Red Cloud, NE. She was
a beneficiary of Cather’s literary estate, and when Edith Lewis died in 1972
she bequeathed Cather books and manuscripts to Helen and her brother Charles
Cather. Helen donated her share of these materials and Willa Cather’s
letters to her to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Place Annotations
