National Willa Cather Center News

In the 1910s and 1920s, Willa Cather made several trips to New Mexico, sometimes staying for weeks as she visited friends and relatives, traveling both for pleasure and for research. In the spring of 1926, Cather was reviewing the proofs of My Mortal Enemy and at the same time, finishing the writing of Death Comes for the Archbishop; the novel was slated for serial publication in The Forum beginning in January 1927 and as a Knopf book the following September.

Invitation to Bid

General Contractor for Porch Restoration
J.L. Miner House | 241 North Seward St.
Red Cloud, Nebraska 68970

Since 2006, the Society of American Archivists and archivists across the United States have celebrated American Archives Month, a collaborative effort by professional organizations and repositories around the nation to highlight the importance of preserving papers of lasting value. Archivists are professionals who assess, organize, preserve, and provide access to these papers—which might include letters, financial or political documents, photos, manuscripts, or publications of many types. The archives at the National Willa Cather Center contain all of these, and more! 

Abbie Loomis hopes her legacy gift to the Willa Cather Foundation will help history come alive for future generations of Cather enthusiasts and heritage tourists.

In 1969, the Willa Cather Foundation Board of Governors pursued a series of postage stamps to commemorate the 1973 centennial of Willa Cather’s birth; the goal was to have the first stamps offered for sale in Red Cloud on December 7, 1973. What resulted four years later was a single 8 cent stamp with Cather’s likeness. Following are excerpts of that process gleaned from past newsletters. 

The Nation’s “These United States” series spanned from 1922-24 featuring different authors writing about 48 states.

While Willa Cather was the member of the Cather family who shared life in early Nebraska with a reading public, she arrived with her parents a full decade after the first of her relatives settled down in the newly-formed Webster County. Several of our earliest collections feature museum objects and papers related to the lives of those early homesteaders, and we've talked about them in this series before.

Sarah Arneson was born and raised in Red Cloud and has returned many times to visit—and to perform. In this 20th anniversary celebration year of beloved performances, we are delighted to welcome her again to the Red Cloud Opera House stage on September 1. In addition to program notes on selections related to Cather’s works, this recent interview reveals more about Red Cloud’s own special artist's musical interests, highlights of her career, and the origins of her craft.

As has been noted so often before, there exists within Willa Cather so many interesting dualities. She was intensely engaged with her small hometown, even as she became a traveler of the world; she was down-to-earth and plain spoken, but she enjoyed the niceties that her career afforded her—the fine clothes, the fascinating company. The Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Collection contains even more evidence of these dichotomies in Cather's nature.

Willa Cather, the National Willa Cather Center, and some of our archival holdings are featured in an article by Jennifer Howard. You can read “Mapping Willa Cather” in the Summer 2023 issue of Fine Books & Collections and order the magazine from their website.