Reinterpreting the Pavelka Farmstead
"We turned to leave the cave; Ántonia and I went up the stairs first, and the children waited. We were standing outside talking, when they all came running up the steps together, big and little, tow heads and gold heads and brown, and flashing little naked legs; a veritable explosion of life out of the dark cave into the sunlight. It made me dizzy for a moment." - My Ántonia
Located in rural Webster County, near Bladen, Nebraska, the farmstead served as the setting for the final scenes of My Ántonia. Anna Sadilek Pavelka was the inspiration for Ántonia Shimerda, arguably Willa Cather's most famous character and the namesake for her 1918 novel. The floor plan of house was restored to its period of significance in 2021. The foundation was stabilized, lighting and mechanical systems were added, and a walking path and access ramp were established to make the site accessible.
The Pavelka Farmstead embodies not only John and Anna Pavelka’s success as a farm family, it also symbolizes the immigrant stories and rich multiculturalism that shaped the Great Plains at the dawn of the twentieth century.
While the site is open for guided tours, it remains a hollow space. This reinterpretation will provide for additional selfdirected programming, as well as inclusive and experiential family and student programming by pre-arrangement. With pre-arrangement, access will be given to the interior of the property, allowing for full immersion in the space, including the root cellar, which is an important symbol in Cather’s work.
More About the Project
Key themes of the exhibit will include:
- The Conclusion of the Immigrant Success Story
- Story begins with arrival at the Depot
- Assimilation versus preservation of culture
- The Pavelka Family & Homestead as Prototype/Setting for Cather's Works
- My Ántonia primarly but also
- "Neighbor Rosicky"
- This Homestead as Synechdoche for Larger Rural Topics
- Rural life improvements (REA, mail, phones)
- Rural life struggles (farm finance, drought & weather, physical hardships)
- Agricultural technology
Design, fabrication, and installation of the exhibit panels and casework at the Pavelka Farmstead will cost approximately $195,000. Names of supporters who contribute $1,000 or more will be featured on the exhibit's credit panel. Sponsors' logos will be included with donations beginning at the $2,500 level. Pledges are payable over five years.
Exhibit Sponsor Benefits
| Invitation to the welcome reception. | Commemorative exhibit bookmark. |
Set of notecards featuring illustrations by Władysław T. Benda featured in the first edition of My Ántonia.
| Your name on the exhibit panel. | Commemorative My Ántonia poster featuring more than a dozen book cover designs. | A print of John Bergers' Painted Windows from an original oil painting inspired by My Ántonia. | |
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More about our reinterpretation strategy
This exhibit is part of a broader reinterpretation project, in which we have tried to foreground two fundamental questions:
- Why is this site/object/person important to Red Cloud?
- Why is this site/object/person important to the life and writing of Willa Cather?
We hope this two-fold interpretive strategy will ensure that the Farmers and Merchants Bank is as richly and fully explored as local history sites as it is as a Willa Cather historic site. The expansion of our interpretation will help to more fully situate our organization in our local community, as well as attract new visitors to our sites—those who may be interested in architecture, in Nebraska or rural history, in preservation—in addition to those who are solely interested in Cather. Exhibit themes are explored with the inclusion of people of color, immigrants, laborers, and others on the fringe of Cather's world.
Support for this project is also made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
