National Willa Cather Center News

October is American Archives Month, and as we kick off our My Ántonia Big Read activities, we look back at the way our archives have shaped how we read and talk about the novel!

Recent months have brought continued progress and important additions to the Hotel Garber development project. To fulfill a goal of the Red Cloud Creative District, the entire lower level of the Potter-Wright building will now be rehabilitated to house a Creative Hub. The project team has also grown with the addition of John Schwichtenberg as General Manager. 

During the Willa Cather Spring Conference, Sharon Kohout always makes time to say hello to her “Mama Simons.” Kohout’s great grandmother, Belle K. Simons, died in 1972 at 102 years old and is buried in her hometown of Red Cloud, Nebraska.

Willa Cather’s My Ántonia was among the fifty titles selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for their 2024 Big Read initiative. In partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read supports community reading programs designed around a single NEA Big Read book, with an aim to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.

In August, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded over $23 million in grant funding through its Museums for America Program

This week, the Red Cloud Chief ended its 150 year publication run. Through its pages, we came to learn much of what we know about Webster County history and Willa Cather's place in it.

Today is National Book Lovers Day and a fine day to celebrate a love of books and reading, as Willa Cather always did—and that the Willa Cather Foundation continues to do in her name. "Cather and the Readerly Imagination" was the theme of our 69th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference but we celebrate Willa Cather's words every day as they are the reason for our mission—which you can support in many ways, including a browse in our National Willa Cather Center Bookstore (in person or online!).

Are you interested in serving on the Board of Governors of the Willa Cather Foundation? For the fiscal year of board service beginning January 1, 2025, the Foundation is accepting applications for new members of the Board. Applications are due by September 5.

Our visitor services coordinator and expert guide, Nick Powers, recently completed the Nebraska Master Naturalist Program, a week-long course of classes and activities that provides certification for its conservation and education volunteers. Classes ranged from plants and animals, to ecosystems, environmental education, and citizen science. Nick gained deeper knowledge of the different plants and animals of Nebraska, as well as conservation efforts in the state.

The National Willa Cather Center’s Collections and Archives in Red Cloud, Nebraska has benefited from a National Endowment for the Humanities grant that enabled the purchase of storage furnishings and tools recommended by a 2023 Collections Assessment Report.