National Willa Cather Center News

The Yost School — formerly the North Star School, District 81 — was recently added to the Cather Center’s portfolio of historic structures. This extraordinary gift, made by the six children of the late Ardis Grace Mullen Yost and John Hobart Yost includes the restored one-room schoolhouse along with an extensive collection of original furnishings, books, and educational artifacts. The Schoolhouse has been carefully relocated on the grounds near the Center’s Burlington Depot, where it will expand opportunities for place-based education.

Have you visited our online collections portal recently? With more than 2,000 objects currently online, collections.willacather.org offers Cather readers numerous ways to explore our collections, and newly launched software updates have made it even easier and faster to navigate. Improvements to the online portal include global searches, faster results return, and improved viewing features for both mobile and desktop users. 

The National Willa Cather Center is honored to recognize the legacy of Jennifer Jean Hein, whose thoughtful bequest will help support the continued preservation and interpretation of the places that inspired the work of Willa Cather. Jennifer Hein passed away unexpectedly last year  at the age of 66. She lived a life defined by intellectual curiosity, public service, and an appreciation for literature and learning.

Three new members of the National Willa Cather Center’s Board of Governors were enthusiastically welcomed at a recent board meeting. Amy Neff Balamanno, Timothy Bintrim, and Robert Wolfe joined a committed group of professionals, scholars, and community leaders who share the desire to advance the legacy of Willa Cather. 

This June, Theater Latté Da invites audiences to experience the world premiere of My Ántonia, a stirring new musical adaptation of Willa Cather’s classic novel. Running June 3 through July 12, at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis, this Latté Da–commissioned production reimagines a beloved American story as an intimate celebration of resilience and the enduring strength of women.

Archivist Tracy Tucker takes a deep dive into Webster County settlement patterns for the upcoming opening of "All Aboard!" West-Bound Trains in American Culture."

This month, author Will Fellows reminds us that February marks an important anniversary: the 75th year of The World of Willa Cather, written by Mildred Bennett, a school teacher, author, researcher, and founder of the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial, now known to us as the National Willa Cather Center.

Fellows spent hundreds of hours reading and researching in the NWCC archives as he began work on a Bennett auto/biography which blends his original research and interviews with Bennett's own unpublished memoir. 

In 2021, the National Willa Cather Center received a gift of several objects that originated from Edith Lewis’s estate, which were likely fixtures of the home during Willa Cather’s lifetime. These personal effects included a small gilded bird cage that looked both well-loved and fragile. On its car ride to the archives in Red Cloud, the archivist Tracy Sanford Tucker was startled when it burst out in loud—albeit brief—birdsong. This musical, mechanical objet d’art may have originated in France. Maison Bontems was one well-known maker

The Cather Quilt, a collaborative work by Vicki Seeger and
Sue Wood made its public debut recently. The vibrant quilt
honors the life and work of Willa Cather through textile art
and brings to life the many places Cather spent time or called
home: Jaffrey, New Hampshire; Gore, Virginia; New York City;
and Grand Manan Island, while anchored in the landscapes of
Red Cloud, Nebraska, which inspired much of her writing.

After the holidays, many of us will turn our thoughts to setting goals and making a fresh start in a new year. In January 1913, Willa Cather was doing the same thing when she moved to New York!