George Cather Ray Collection

The George Cather Ray Collection is largely comprised of the papers of George P. Cather, Frances (Franc) Smith Cather, and G. P. Cather. The George P. Cather materials include correspondence, family photographs, County Treasurer reports, land assessments, and estate information relating to his work as a land surveyor. The G. P. Cather items consist of correspondence, battle training notes, military orders, and commissions. The Franc Smith Cather materials consist mainly of correspondence with her children and others along with letters she received and newspaper clippings she collected after her son G. P.'s death. The collection also includes items from various other Cather family members such as receipts, estate information, and land records from Frederick County, Virginia.

While the collection documents the daily lives, work, and interests of members of the Cather family, it is also valuable resource for information on homesteading, farm life, railroads, land surveying, politics, and college course work and social life, particularly in Nebraska. G. P. Cather's correspondence also provides information on homesteading following the Kinkaid Act, which made land in the Nebraska Sandhills open to settlers. His materials serve as a resource for general duties and life in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army. Whenever possible the collection was kept in the order created by the donor.