NEH Preservation Assistance Grant Award

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. 

The purchase of a sturdy rolling storage ladder-cart from this grant will enable our staff to be able to access top shelves and transport items safely, while an art rack was added for additional storage of framed works in our collection. Many of the collections most in demand from researchers are also the most easily damaged; the addition of storage for framed objects and a picking ladder will allow staff to safely store records and objects on the highest shelves.

The National Willa Cather Center was constructed in 2017 to create a state-of-the-art archival facility to better house our growing collections, comprised chiefly of Willa Cather’s and the Cather family’s personal possessions, letters, books, and manuscripts. The collection also includes works of art that belonged to Cather or were inspired by her writing; museum and archival items related to Webster County’s history as Cather and her family experienced it; and thousands of photographs of Cather, her family and friends, and the historic sites and landscapes related to her life and works. 

Two years later, the Center took receipt of the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Collection, comprised of nearly 8,000 of the earliest Cather collections. The WCPM Collection was originally amassed by the founders of our organization and managed by the Nebraska State Historical Society for more than forty years. With the approval of the Nebraska Legislature, the WCPM collection was returned to Red Cloud and reintroduced to Willa Cather’s many fans for exhibits and archival research. The gift of these priceless materials created a need to maximize all available storage, purchase additional storage, and reorganize collections to ensure the safety of materials, including identifying rescue priorities.  Due to continued growth of our collections and reassessment of legacy collections, many objects are now in need of relocation within the archives.  

A 2021 Collections Assessment Program conducted by the American Institute for Conservation and the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation helped to guide these efforts and prioritize funding needs. 

The protective measures and climate-controlled storage capacity of our archive provides an ideal space for additional materials related to the life and works of Willa Cather.

We are always interested in working with Webster County and Nebraska families who hold historical documents, photographs, publications, or correspondence that may be relevant to Cather’s life and writing, the historical events which Cather describes in her writing and correspondence, or the people who served as prototypes for Cather’s characters.

Have an item of interest? Contact Tracy Tucker, director of collections and curation, at ttucker@willacather.org.