The Willa Cather Foundation

Fans and scholars of Willa Cather are passionate about the author, her life, and the prairie landscape that inspired her writings. The online community created to celebrate the life and work of Cather is relevant and meaningful, whether the visitor is a high school student or international scholar. With its archives, store, forums and virtual galleries, www.WillaCather.org is a literary hive that delivers fresh content and fuels connection. 

Visit the website

The Will Cather Foundation needed a site to help recruit members, engage and retain existing members, and to help reach out to a younger demographic. The site collectively promotes Willa Cather, the Opera House, Red Cloud community, and the Nebraska prairie about which Cather so fondly wrote. Pickering’s design features rich, earth-tone colors coupled with a scrolling image of the prairie. The website utilizes a Content Management System (CMS) that allows the organization to update various aspects of the site such as news stories, event calendars, and newsletters. In addition to having a perpetually updated site, a user login allows members to access special information for members only. An interactive book was added to the site, letting visitors flip through pages and experience Willa Cather’s writing first hand. 

View the interactive book

In addition to the website, the organization needed print collateral to be placed in travel racks around the area to draw tourists and visitors into the site. The brochure acts as an extension of the website with important information about Willa Cather and Red Cloud.

Pickering designed an E-newsletter template that allows The Willa Cather Organization to easily create engaging periodical correspondence. The newsletter mimics the look and feel of the website and each campaign is archived on the website in a searchable database.