Nichols, Rose Standish (1872-1960). American garden designer, writer, and activist. Born in Boston, MA, daughter of Arthur Howard Nichols and Elizabeth Homer Nichols, Rose Nichols became interested in garden design; her first project was at her family’s country house at the artists’ colony of Cornish, NH. She was encouraged by her uncle, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. She travelled extensively in Europe, writing books on English, Italian, and Spanish pleasure gardens, as well as writing many articles for magazines. Nichols was also active in the women’s suffrage and peace movements. Cather met Nichols in Boston, and corresponded with her about a two-part article on the letters of Saint-Gaudens, which appeared in McClure’s in 1908; later Cather had to decline an article on gardens from Nichols.

Camp, Charley. There is insufficient evidence for a definitive identification, but this may be Charles B. De Camp. De Camp graduated from Yale in 1897 and spent the rest of his life working as a magazine editor. He worked as the assistant editor at Everybody’s Magazine from 1904 to 1905, as Theodore Dreiser’s assistant at Broadway Magazine from 1906 to 1907, and as the editor of Metropolitan Magazine in 1914. De Camp also worked as a writer, publishing short stories, poems, and articles such as “Boy and the Law” (1911) and “Moral Ballad of the Botts” (1909) in magazines such as Harper’s Weekly and McClure’s Magazine. Cather may have been referring to De Camp in a 1908 letter to Rose Standish Nichols, in which she discusses working with a group of McClure’s staff members working on an article about Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Brewster, George Thomas (1862-1943). American sculptor. George Thomas Brewster was born in Kingston, MA, to Mary S. Cushman and Altheus Brewster. He attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston from 1877 to 1881, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1881 to 1884. Brewster was primarily known as a portrait and war memorial sculptor throughout his career, with some of his most famous pieces including the Independent Man (1900) on the top of the Rhode Island State Capital, Alexander Hamilton, 1793 (1918) at Hamilton College, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1920) in Plymouth, PA. He also spent a significant portion of his career working as a teacher, founding the modeling course at the New York Art Students’ League in 1886 and teaching art classes at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1892 to 1893. Cather collaborated with Brewster in 1908 when McClure’s Magazine ran two articles on his mentor and fellow sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Saint-Gaudens, Augusta Fisher Homer (1848-1926). American painter; wife of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Born in Roxbury, MA, a younger daughter of Thomas J. Homer and Mary Elizabeth Fisher Homer, Augusta Homer (a distant cousin of painter Winslow Homer) went to Rome to study painting in the early 1870s. There she met sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens; her parents gave her permission to marry him after he won his first important commission. They had one son, Homer Saint-Gaudens. After discovering her husband’s affair, Augusta Saint-Gaudens separated from him and began travelling widely, including to the Arctic and in the Middle East. After Saint-Gaudens was diagnosed with cancer in 1900, and though herself coping with increasing deafness, she returned to him and managed his correspondence and business affairs. After his death in 1907 she worked to secure his legacy, establishing their home in Cornish, NH, as a memorial to him. Cather may not have met Augusta Saint-Gaudens, but they were both involved with the publication of some of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ letters in McClure’s.

Terry, Ellen (1847-1928). English actress. Born in an English theatrical family, Ellen Terry began performing at age eight. At sixteen, she married artist George Frederick Watts, but they soon separated. In 1868 she left the stage for six years to live with architect and designer Edward Godwin, with whom she had two children, Edith Craig and Edward Gordon Craig. She returned to the stage, and in 1878 she joined Henry Irving’s Lyceum Theatre Company as leading lady in a long-lasting and successful partnership. They were especially famous for their Shakespearean roles. Terry formed her own company in 1903 to showcase modern plays, particularly those of Ibsen and her friend George Bernard Shaw. Although the company was not a success, Terry continued to tour; she married actor James Carew in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1907. She also acted in films and gave lectures and recitals until a few years before her death. She was made a Dame of the Order of the British Empire in 1925. Carrie Miner Sherwood, apparently told Mildred Bennett that Cather had ghost-written Terry’s autobiography, which appeared in McClure’s Magazine in 1907-1908, but that is highly unlikely. Cather published "Between the Acts" in 1894 in the Nebraska State Journal, which contained a somewhat sensational account of Watts and Terry's relationship, describing the pair as trying to "worship art and each other at the same time." However, Cather said in a 1909 letter that she "used to care a good deal” about Terry (#0151), and in 1924 Burton Rascoe reported hearing Cather praise Terry at length.