Willa Cather Foundation facts for kids
Red Cloud Opera House, now the foundation's headquarters, in Red Cloud, Nebraska
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| Founded | 1955 |
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| Founder | Local volunteers, under direction of Mildred R. Bennett |
| Type | Non-profit |
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The Willa Cather Foundation is a special group in the United States. It is based in Red Cloud, Nebraska. This group works to save important papers and places connected to Willa Cather. She was a famous writer who won a Pulitzer Prize. The Foundation also helps people learn about and enjoy her books.
The Foundation started in 1955. It is a non-profit organization. This means it uses its money to help its cause, not to make a profit. The group helps keep Willa Cather's memory alive through learning, saving history, and art. They offer tours of historic places. They also protect the 612-acre Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. Plus, they hold art shows and events at the Red Cloud Opera House.
In 2017, the Willa Cather Foundation opened the National Willa Cather Center. This center is in downtown Red Cloud. It has a place for old documents, a museum, and a study area. Inside, you can find the Red Cloud Opera House, an art gallery, and a bookstore. There is also a permanent exhibit called "American Bittersweet" about Willa Cather's life. The center has a large, special room for old papers and collections. The Foundation keeps many old documents and museum items. It also protects ten historic places. These are the most places linked to an American author that are recognized nationally.
How the Foundation Started
The Willa Cather Foundation began in 1955. It started in Red Cloud, Nebraska. This small town is often featured in Willa Cather's novels and stories. She used different names for it in her books.
Willa Cather was born in Virginia in 1873. Her family moved to a rural area in Webster County, Nebraska in 1883. In late 1884, they moved to Red Cloud, the main town in the county. Willa Cather lived there until 1890. That's when she started college at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Foundation was first called the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial. A group of local volunteers started it. Mildred R. Bennett led this group. She was from South Dakota and came to Webster County in 1932 as a teacher. Mildred Bennett became very important in studying Willa Cather's work. Her book, The World of Willa Cather, came out in 1951. It was the first full book about Cather's life after she passed away in 1947. It is still a helpful book for learning about Cather's life in Nebraska.
Saving Historic Places
In its early years, the Foundation did many things. In 1965, it changed its name to the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation. Under Mildred Bennett's guidance, the main goal was to save and fix places in and around Red Cloud. These places were important in Willa Cather's life and books.
By 1976, the Foundation owned several properties. These included:
- Willa Cather Childhood Home
- The Farmers' and Merchants' Bank building. Silas Garber built this bank. He was the real person who inspired the character Captain Forrester in Cather's novel A Lost Lady (1923).
- Burlington Depot. This train station appears in many of Cather's stories.
- St. Juliana Falconieri Catholic Church. This is where "Ántonia" from the novel My Ántonia (1918) got married. In real life, Ántonia was Cather's friend Annie Sadilek Pavelka.
- Grace Episcopal Church. Cather and her parents joined this church in 1922. It has two painted-glass windows that Cather gave to remember her parents.
- Pavelka Farmstead. This farm was the setting for the last parts of My Ántonia.
In 1978, the Nebraska State Historical Society took over these properties. They also took the old documents the Foundation had collected. The Foundation continued to manage these sites and kept them open for visitors.
Later, the Foundation added more historic sites. They now own these places themselves. They include:
- J. L. Miner House. This house was the home of the Harling family in My Ántonia.
- Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. This is a 612-acre (2.48 km2) natural grassland. It is about five miles (8 km) south of Red Cloud.
- Red Cloud Opera House (built in 1885). This building was important in the novels The Song of the Lark (1915) and Lucy Gayheart (1935).
What the Foundation Does Now
From 2007 to 2017, the group was known as the Willa Cather Foundation. A board of thirty people guided it. These people included scholars, teachers, and other experts from across the United States. In 2019, the organization changed its public name to the National Willa Cather Center. It still keeps its non-profit status under the Willa Cather Foundation name. The National Willa Cather Center building was finished in 2017.
The Foundation publishes the Willa Cather Review. This is a magazine with scholarly articles and news about the Foundation. They also hold a conference every spring in Red Cloud. Every two years, they host an International Cather Seminar. This is for scholars and people who love Cather's books. They work with different universities for this event. The Foundation still offers tours in Red Cloud all year. They also welcome scholars and researchers.
The Foundation gives out the Norma Ross Walter scholarship. This scholarship is given each year to a female student. She must be a graduate of a Nebraska high school. She also needs to plan to study English in college. The Red Cloud Opera House was restored in 2003. It has a theater and an art gallery. Since then, the Foundation also works as a regional arts center.
In 2019, the Nebraska State Historical Society gave back ownership of all historic Cather-related sites to the Willa Cather Foundation. Also, over 8,000 documents and items related to Cather returned to Red Cloud. They are now kept safely in the new Special Collections & Archives. This archive opened in 2017 at the National Willa Cather Center.
