New Items Join our Collection

When Jim and Angela Southwick came to Red Cloud for June's Spring Conference and Cather Foundation Board of Governors meeting, they came bearing gifts-very generous gifts. Perhaps the most exciting pieces in the collection are four of the original Benda illustrations to My Ántonia. These illustrations join two additional Benda originals that are part of the Foundation's collection. Willa Cather commissioned W. T. Benda to create these pen-and-ink drawings, eight of which were published in the novel when it was released in 1918. The image of Ántonia driving cattle in a blizzard (shown to the right) is particularly special, as it features a handwritten inscription by Cather on the backside that reads, "A Benda original with best wishes for a Merry Christmas, Willie."