University of Nebraska Receives a Major Donation to Support the Willa Cather Archives

The University of Nebraska holds the world’s largest archival collection of materials relating to author Willa Cather. A 1895 graduate of the University of Nebraska, Cather produced numerous novels and short stories about life on the Great Plains frontier, where she grew up. Her 1922 novel One of Ours, won the Pulitzer Prize. Willa Cather died in 1947 at her home on Park Avenue in New York City.

Now the University of Nebraska has received a $5.8 million donation from a nephew of Willa Cather. The money will be used to support initiatives, programs, seminars, and conferences relating to the Willa Cather archives. Funds will be available for undergraduate and graduate students studying Cather and will support the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition, a journal on the author’s work published by the University of Nebraska Press. The donation will also support efforts to digitize the archive so that it can be made available to a larger, worldwide audience.

Charles E. Cather, who died in 2011, also left personal property relating to his aunt to the university. These included manuscripts, signed first editions of her work, medals and other memorabilia.