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 |
It was more than wonderful—It was pure beauty.
20 Nov '14
Don't return.
Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Florance5 Red Cloud6 Nebraska GRANDCENT.ANNEX N.Y.32 DEC 22 1934 6-AMInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2944.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2944
- Contents
- Document is a newspaper clipping titled "Hepzibah Menuhin in Debut Recital," dated December 20, 1934, on the recto of which Cather has written her message. Includes two additional newspaper clippings and one handwritten envelope.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Beatrix Mizer Florance and Sidney Florance 1
- Date letter was written
- [December 21, 1934]
- Accompanying this letter
-
Includes two enclosed newspaper clippings, one titled "The Opera: Farrar Triumphs as Carmen at the Metropolitan" and the other titled "Music and Drama: Geraldine Farrar as Carmen."
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Sidney and Beatrice "Trix" Mizer Florance Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Person Annotations
Florance, Sidney Riddell (1877-1957). Canadian-American banker and amateur poet. Born in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, a younger son of Edwin Charles Florance and Margaret Riddell Florance, Sidney Florance emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1881. He was working in Chicago where he met Cather’s friend, musician Beatrix Mizer. They married in 1903, settled in Red Cloud, NE, and had five children. He succeeded his father-in-law, Benjamin Mizer, as head of the Webster County Bank, and handled local business matters for Cather when she no longer had family living in Red Cloud.
0066
Florance, Beatrix Elizabeth Mizer (1875-1963) (“Trixie,”
“Trix”). Cather’s childhood friend. Beatrix Mizer was born in
Ohio in a German-American family. They moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1884.
Cather later recalled that when she first enrolled in school in Red Cloud,
“Trix Mizer was the prettiest little girl I had ever seen.” They acted
together in an 1888 production of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Red Cloud
Opera House. Mizer graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1893 and studied
voice at the Chicago Conservatory of Music 1897-1898, qualifying as a music
teacher, and at the Chicago College of Music 1899-1900. She married Sidney
Florance in 1903. In 1909 the couple moved to Red Cloud, where they settled
and raised a family. Beatrix’s Chicago musical studies and return to Red
Cloud may have inspired elements of Cather’s novel Lucy
Gayheart (1935). Cather’s correspondence with both Florances began
as early as 1914 and extended through the 1940s.
Florance, Sidney Riddell (1877-1957). Canadian-American banker and amateur poet. Born in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, a younger son of Edwin Charles Florance and Margaret Riddell Florance, Sidney Florance emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1881. He was working in Chicago where he met Cather’s friend, musician Beatrix Mizer. They married in 1903, settled in Red Cloud, NE, and had five children. He succeeded his father-in-law, Benjamin Mizer, as head of the Webster County Bank, and handled local business matters for Cather when she no longer had family living in Red Cloud.
0066
Florance, Beatrix Elizabeth Mizer (1875-1963) (“Trixie,”
“Trix”). Cather’s childhood friend. Beatrix Mizer was born in
Ohio in a German-American family. They moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1884.
Cather later recalled that when she first enrolled in school in Red Cloud,
“Trix Mizer was the prettiest little girl I had ever seen.” They acted
together in an 1888 production of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Red Cloud
Opera House. Mizer graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1893 and studied
voice at the Chicago Conservatory of Music 1897-1898, qualifying as a music
teacher, and at the Chicago College of Music 1899-1900. She married Sidney
Florance in 1903. In 1909 the couple moved to Red Cloud, where they settled
and raised a family. Beatrix’s Chicago musical studies and return to Red
Cloud may have inspired elements of Cather’s novel Lucy
Gayheart (1935). Cather’s correspondence with both Florances began
as early as 1914 and extended through the 1940s.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser
New York Evening Post
