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 |
Miss Cather has been called out of town2 by illness3 in her family. I expect she will return to New York within a few days, and your letter will be brought to her attention promptly.
Very truly yours, Sarah J. Bloom 4Secretary Mr. Martin Birnbaum The American Academy of Arts and Letters 633 West 155th Street New York CityInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let3248.xml
- Letter identifier
- 3248
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Martin Birnbaum 1
- Date letter was written
- April 16, 1942
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Cather, Willa (1873-1947), Member Archives, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
Individual Annotations
In late March and/or early April, Willa Cather herself was hospitalized with an inflamed gall bladder (see #1576 and #2192), and she may have spent some time in Atlantic City, NJ, convalescing after being discharged from the hospital (see #2045).
Person Annotations
Birnbaum, Martin (1878-1970). American lawyer and art collector and
dealer. Born in Hungary, Birnbaum emigrated to the U.S. as a
child, graduated from the City College of New York and Columbia University,
and became a partner in the law firm of Scott & Fowles. He was also an
important art collector and dealer, particularly of modern European art, and
produced many art catalogs and biographies of artists. In 1942 he wrote
Willa Cather about Death Comes for the Archbishop
(1927).
Bloom, Sarah J. (1889-1961). Cather's personal secretary. Born in New York in 1889 to Russian immigrants Solomon and Bertha Bloom, Sarah J. Bloom worked for Cather from some time in the 1920s until Cather's death and continued to work for Edith Lewis on matters pertaining to Cather's literary estate thereafter. Bloom typed Cather's literary manuscripts and managed Cather's correspondence, typing dictated letters and sometimes responding for Cather when she was traveling. Bloom’s work for Cather supplemented full-time office employment in New York City (for many years she worked for the New York State Public Service Commission). She thus came to Cather and Lewis's apartment on weekends to take dictation, pick up and deliver typescripts, and deliver typed letters for signature. She died in New York city in 1961.
Place Annotations
