Philosophical Themes in Kaderli Letters on Death

This online exhibit explores the many philosophical themes present in the Kaderli letters on death. It was created under the mentorship of Dr. John Mulligan, lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at Rice University.

Elizabeth Land Kaderli was born in 1921 in Dallas, Texas. She attended Lamar High School and was a graduate of the Rice Institute in 1943. She married Robert Kaderli, Jr. after World War II. In 1954, she moved with her husband and daughter to Midland, Texas. She began writing adventure fiction for magazines (often under the name Land Kaderli), published "Twenty seconds to live" (1959), and "A girl and five brave horses" (1961) under the name Elizabeth Land. She worked as a producer for public televsion, working on "Face to Face," a weekly program on KLRN-TV in Austin, Texas. After the death of her husband in 1971, she moved to Houston, where she produced "The Greenroom," a weekly special for KUHT-TV highlighting art venues and activities throughout the city. After retiring from television in 1985, she moved to San Diego to be near her family. She returned to Houston in 1998 and lived in Houston until her death in 2017.

In the early 1960s she wrote a series of letters to leaders in the fields of art, music, literature, science, religion, medicine and other fields examining the subject of death.

Kaderli collection of letters about death, 1961-1966 (MS 052) finding aid: http://archives.library.rice.edu/repositories/2/resources/51 These letters are open for research, but have not been provided online in full due to copyright concerns of the authors. For information, contact woodson@rice.edu or call 713.348.2586.