George R. Pattullo (May 16, 1911) | Willa Cather Archive

#3064: Willa Cather to George R. Pattullo, May 16, 1911

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M^CCLURE'S MAGAZINE³
44-60 EAST TWENTY-THIRD STREET
NEW YORK² May sixteenth 1911. Dear Mr. Pattullo¹:

I am sending you a letter which seems to me quite genuine. I do not know how far you may be from "Virginia Point, Texas"⁴, but if you are anywhere near that region you might be able to pick up a good story about conditions⁵ in the Texas State Penitentiary. I do not know whether the subject would interest you or even whether there is a story to be got, but it seems as if there is an opportunity for someone to pick up an interesting article, and I send it on the chance that you might find something interesting in it.

Very sincerely yours, Willa Sibert Cather Mr. George Pattullo¹, Box 236, Bonham⁶, Texas.

Information about this letter:

Source File:: cat.let3064.xml
Letter identifier: 3064
Contents: Document is photocopy of one leaf, typewritten on recto and verso.
Person to whom letter was written: George R. Pattullo¹
Date letter was written: May 16, 1911
Place letter was written: New York, New York, United States²
Location of original letter: Willa Cather Collected Materials (MS008), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE

Individual Annotations

The Texas penal system operated under a convict lease system until 1910, when public pressure resulted in various prison reforms, including the abolition of the lease system. However, the state of Texas did not completely succeed in terminating all of its convict leases until 1912.

Person Annotations

1066

Pattullo, George R. (1879-1967). Canadian-American writer and journalist. Born in Woodstock, Ontario, George R. Pattullo attended the Woodstock Collegiate Institute and the University of Toronto, before becoming a news correspondent in Montreal, London, and Boston. Beginning in 1907 Pattullo took several trips to Texas with photographer Erwin E. Smith. Smith’s photographs illustrated Pattullo’s Western stories, which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, McClure's Magazine, and other magazines. In 1911, Willa Cather wrote Pattullo with a lead for a story about prison conditions in Texas. During World War I, Pattullo served as a special correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post with the American Expeditionary Force.

Place Annotations

New York, New York, United States

Virginia Point, Texas, United States

Bonham, Texas, United States

Work Annotations

McClure's Magazine