About Us How You Can Help Campaign Steering Committee and Advisors The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit “The history of every country begins in the organization that works to promote Willa Cather’s legacy heart of a man or a woman.” Campaign Co-Chair: Ruth H. Keene, Omaha, NE through education, preservation, and the arts. Our home at ­—O Pioneers! Campaign Co-Chair: John A (Jay) Yost, New York, NY the National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud, , Glenda Pierce, Board President, Lincoln, NE provides a state-of-the-art archive and museum for the Make a pledge. You may satisfy your pledge over Marion Arneson, Past President, Wayne, NE preservation and study of a large and growing collection a 5-year period, through payments by check, ACH Deanna Bosselman, Doniphan, NE of Cather materials. Through on-site programming, virtual withdrawal, or credit card. Lynne A. Friedewald, Hastings, NE Campaign for the Future resources, and highly-acclaimed publications, we routinely Make a gift of securities. Gifts of appreciated assets Burke J. Harr, Omaha, NE serve people from all fifty states and over a dozen countries such as stock help you avoid costly gains. Tom Gallagher, New York, NY outside of the U.S. on an annual basis. James Jaap, Pittsburg, PA Make a deferred gift. A planned gift by beneficiary Lynette Krieger, Hastings, NE designation for a retirement account, or by bequest in a Bruce and Gerry Lauritzen, Omaha, NE will or a trust arrangement may fit your financial and Chuck and Nancy Peek, Kearney, NE planning needs. Bernard and Nancy Picchi, New York, NY Brad and Nancy Sherwood, Omaha, NE To learn more about how you can help, please contact: Steve Shively, Lincoln, NE Ashley Olson, Executive Director Peg Welch, Hastings, NE 866-731-7304 toll-free The National Willa Cather Center [email protected] “Great-grandmother Carrie Our programs and services: Miner Sherwood was a visionary and a collector. A life- ●● Operation of an archive, museum and study center long friend of Willa Cather, ●● Preservation of the largest collection of nationally designated historic sites devoted to an American author she saved Cather’s letters and Cather family artifacts in her ●● Arts and humanities programs in the restored Red Cloud Opera House large attic with the hope there would one day be a place for them. We believe in the “Through Willa Cather’s writing, ●● Guided town and country tours of over twenty historic sites relating to Cather’s life and work mission of the Willa Cather Foundation and want to we have a better understanding of further this legacy. This project preserves the historic one of the most remarkable and ●● Conservation of the 612-acre Willa Cather Memorial Prairie sites associated with Cather’s life in Red Cloud and compelling periods in American ●● Outreach to and curriculum support for K-12 teachers enables the Foundation to expand its outreach and History. The sites and collections and students programming across the country. We hope you’ll join that make up the National Willa ●● Scholarships awarded to future English and history us in supporting it.” Cather Center in Red Cloud, Nebraska are cultural ­—Brad and Nancy Sherwood majors Willa Cather’s influence is undeniable. A Pulitzer treasures, and I am grateful for the community that Lead Donors supports the preservation of these historic landmarks. ●● Publication of the Willa Cather Review Prize-winning novelist, she is one of the most Your generosity ensures that our children and ●● Conferences and seminars held regularly in Red Cloud, highly-acclaimed 20th century authors and her nationally, and internationally grandchildren will be able to travel back in time to writing has been translated into more than forty The Willa Cather Foundation 413 North Webster Street hear the “nimble air” and learn from Willa Cather’s languages. Decades after her death, her work “That is happiness; to be dissolved into something Red Cloud, NE 68970 example for many generations to come.” remains popular and loved by readers worldwide. complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes 402-746-2653 l 866-731-7304 —Mrs. Laura Bush as naturally as sleep.” ­—My Ántonia www.WillaCather.org Honorary National Campaign Chair Campaign for the Future Expanding and Sustaining Our Work Restoring Cather’s Treasured Campaign Budget Places In early 2019, , formerly the Nebraska Program Enhancements Capital Improvements $3,900,000 State Historical Society, transferred ownership of their Willa Education and preservation are core to everything we do. Willa Cather Childhood Home Cather State Historic Sites and the Willa Cather Pioneer Expanded exhibits and interpretation at the historic sites will Home of Willa Cather, her parents, Restoration of the Cather historic sites $1,900,000 Memorial (WCPM) Collection—comprised of approximately ensure a 21st century museum experience. A new education and family. A National Historic Including the Willa Cather Childhood Home, 8,000 documents and artifacts related to the life, times, and staff member will provide expanded outreach and programs Landmark, one of only 21 in Nebraska. Pavelka (Ántonia) Farmstead, Farmers and works of Cather—to the Willa Cather Foundation. to schools, libraries, civic and literary groups, and others Merchants Bank, Red Cloud Burlington Depot, Pavelka (Ántonia) Farmstead nationwide. A new facilities position will provide timely J.L Miner House, Grace Episcopal Church, and Our acceptance of these historic sites and collections ushered Home of Anna and John Pavelka, preventive maintenance and care for our expanded portfolio St. Juliana Catholic Church. in a new era for our work. It provided an opportunity not prototypes for Ántonia Shimerda only to restore the sites, but to reimagine the entire visitor of historic properties. Cuzak and John Cuzak, and a setting Equity investment in Hotel Garber $2,000,000 experience. Restoring and reinterpreting these nationally Endowment Growth in My Ántonia. To provide sorely needed housing for significant cultural assets will ensure memorable experiences National Willa Cather Center visitors and for future generations of readers and literary tourists. We have a small unrestricted endowment and hold restricted Farmers and Merchants Bank endowment funds that are exclusively for scholarships and Built by Silas Garber, founder of continued preservation of Red Cloud’s Main Now we’re ready—with your help—to take the next steps. prairie conservation. We seek to increase the principal of our Red Cloud and prototype for Street Historic District. We aspire to: endowment in order to designate annual earnings to further Captain Forrester in Willa Cather’s the preservation and education components of our mission 1 Restore seven Cather Historic Sites, including the . Program Enhancements $1,100,000 over the long-term. beloved Cather Childhood Home and the Pavelka Red Cloud Burlington Depot Exhibits, artifact conservation, and $250,000 (Ántonia) Farmstead. The depot that Willa Cather interpretation 2 Expand our educational programs and resources for a would have traveled through Education Coordinator $275,000 growing number of visitors, teachers, and students. during her return visits to (wages and benefits x 5 years) Red Cloud. 3 Grow our endowment to reflect the worth of our Sites Manager $275,000 properties and programs. J.L. Miner House (wages and benefits x 5 years) Home to James and Julia Miner and 4 Support Red Cloud’s tourism development efforts children, including Carrie and Irene, with investment in the adaptive reuse of a historic Educational outreach, publications, $200,000 to whom Cather dedicated My Ántonia. building into a boutique hotel, thereby strengthening and teaching resources Anna Pavelka, prototype for Ántonia, our ability to meet our mission and enhance the worked here as a hired girl. Marketing and signage $100,000 visitor experience. Hotel Garber will be located in the historic Potter Block, next door to our Farmers and Merchants Bank. Grace Episcopal Church Hotel Garber The Cather family and Willa Cather Endowment Growth $1,500,000 were members of this church, and To provide approximately $75,000 annually “The marvelous thing Lodging in Red Cloud is limited and inhibits our ability to grow as a tourist destination. We have always struggled to Cather purchased two of the church’s (@5%) for site preservation and educational about going to Red Cloud, find housing for our visitors, but now that the National Willa painted glass windows in memory of program enhancement. Nebraska, is you can walk Cather Center is open, we routinely need more places than her parents. right into Willa Cather’s we have available for guests to stay. A market feasibility Grand Total $6,500,000 world. There’s the house she St. Juliana Catholic Church study tested demand for the project and concluded that Red Willa Cather often came here to hear lived in, the bank, the opera Cloud can support an upper mid-scale hotel. The hotel will mass. Anna Pavelka, prototype for house, the railroad depot, allow us to better fulfill our mission—visitors will be able to Ántonia in Cather’s novel, My Ántonia A detailed budget is available at www.WillaCather.org. All figures are and the landscape. It’s one of my favorite places stay longer to enjoy the museum, the historic sites, the town, was married in this church. estimates; final costs are subject to change. Construction estimates in all America.” ­—David McCullough the Cather Prairie, and other scenic places Cather loved. include a 10% contingency; wage estimates include benefits.