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Gregory B. Webb collection

Call Number

ARC.112

Date

1898-1967, inclusive

Creator

Kirby, Henry P.
Hall, Isabel Hawxhurst
Webb, Clarine Matson
Webb, Gregory B. (Gregory Burkitt)

Extent

7.98 Linear Feet in five manuscript boxes, one loose oversize volume, and nine oversize boxes.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Gregory Burkitt Webb (1878-1948) was an architect who lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. with his wife, Clarine Matson Webb. After spending the early part of his career designing banks, theaters, and hotels in various South American cities, Webb became an established designer of mausoleums and abbeys in and around the New York City area, including Cypress Hills Abbey and Memorial Abbey at Brooklyn's Cypress Hills Cemetery, Ferncliff Mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y., and Holy Cross Cloister at Brooklyn's Cemetery of the Holy Cross. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Webb was also a collector of political cartoons. The Gregory B. Webb collection spans the period 1898 to 1967 and contains materials documenting Webb's architectural career and the various projects on which he worked. These items include blueprints, floor plans, and other technical drawings; photographs and engravings; correspondence; agreements; news clippings; brochures; programs; and advertisements. The collection also contains a substantial assortment of political cartoons portraying, and often criticizing, the Spanish-American War, President Theodore Roosevelt, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal politics. Personal items of Webb's wife, Clarine Matson Webb, and Clarine's friend, the artist Isabel Hawxhurst Hall, are also included in the collection.

Biographical Note

Gregory Burkitt Webb (1878-1948) was an architect who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent the early part of his career designing banks, theaters, and hotels in various South American cities, and later became an established designer of mausoleums and abbeys in and around the New York City area, including Cypress Hills Abbey and Memorial Abbey at Brooklyn's Cypress Hills Cemetery, Ferncliff Mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y., and Holy Cross Cloister at Brooklyn's Cemetery of the Holy Cross. Webb also designed public schools, apartment buildings, private homes, and civic club buildings. He kept his offices at 25 West 43rd Street in Manhattan, and lived at 72 Brooklyn Avenue in Brooklyn with his wife, Clarine Matson Webb. Outside of his professional accomplishments, Webb was also a collector of political cartoons.

Source:

  1. "Gregory B. Webb." New York Times, December 13, 1948. Accessed March 11, 2011. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E12FE3B5A157B93C1A81789D95F4C8485F9&scp=2&sq=%22gregory%20b.%20webb%22&st=cse

Scope and Contents

The Gregory B. Webb collection spans the period 1898 to 1967 and primarily consists of materials documenting Webb's architectural career and the various projects on which he worked. These items include blueprints, floor plans, stained glass window designs, and other technical drawings; photographs and engravings; correspondence; agreements; news clippings; brochures; programs; and advertisements. The collection also includes materials documenting the social and cultural activities of Webb's wife, Clarine Matson Webb; a diary of artist Isabel Hawxhurst Hall; and a substantial assortment of political cartoons portraying, and often criticizing, the Spanish-American War, President Theodore Roosevelt, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal politics. The collection has been arranged into three series:

Missing Title

  1. Gregory B. Webb architectural materials, 1922-1967
  2. Clarine Matson Webb and Isabel Hawxhurst Hall materials, 1909-1963
  3. Political cartoons, 1898-1938

Subjects

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

As the collection's original clippings are fragile, researchers are advised to use the photocopies whenever possible.

Reproduction rights for photographs have not been evaluated. Please consult library staff for more information.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Gregory B. Webb collection, ARC.112, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Clarine Matson Webb, 1953, 1957, and 1959.

Related Materials

Matson family papers (ARC.320)

Other Finding Aids

An earlier version of this finding aid, containing a complete container list, is available in paper form at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Please consult library staff for more information.

Collection processed by

Nicholas Pavlik and Aaron Yarbrough

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:22:35 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information

Minimally processed to the series level.

The collection combines the accessions 1977.068, 1985.006, and 1991.043.

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society

Container

Oversize: ARC.112 Box 14 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 6 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 11 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Box: ARC.112 Box 5 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 10 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Box: ARC.112 Box 4 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
volume: 15 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Folder: Flat File (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Folder: Flat File (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Box: ARC.112 Box 1 of 14 (Material Type: Text)
Box: ARC.112 Box 2 of 14 (Material Type: Text)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 7 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Box: ARC.112 Box 8 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 9 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Box: ARC.112 Box 3 of 14 (Material Type: Text)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 12 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
Oversize: ARC.112 Box 13 of 14 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)

Series 1: Gregory B. Webb architectural materials, 1922-1967, inclusive

Extent

6.72 Linear Feet in two manuscript boxes, one loose oversize volume, and nine oversize boxes.

Scope and Contents

This series includes materials documenting Webb's architectural career and the various projects on which he worked, including blueprints, floor plans, stained glass window designs, and other technical drawings; photographs and engravings; correspondence; agreements; news clippings; brochures; programs; and advertisements. The majority of the blueprints, floor plans, and other technical drawings and designs are contained in the oversize boxes.

Among Webb's projects represented in the series are Carnegie Library (Northport, Long Island), Cypress Hills Abbey (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Fairview Mausoleum (Fairview, N.J.), Ferncliff Mausoleum (Hartsdale, N.Y.), Holy Cross Cloister (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Hotel Fort Montagu (Nassau, Bahamas), Memorial Abbey (Queens, N.Y.), Mount Lebanon Cemetery (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Public School No. 6 (West New York, N.J.), Williams Mausoleum (Brookville, Long Island), and various private homes and apartment buildings, among many others.

Additional items include two volumes of professional publications containing architectural plans and designs by Webb's colleagues; a certificate to practice architecture issued to Webb by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; a loose oversize volume of architectural compositions by Henry P. Kirby (d. 1915) and ephemera relating to Webb's projects; and a scrapbook of additional correspondence, architectural drawings, photographs and engravings, and clippings and ephemera relating to Webb's work and architecture in general.

Series 2: Clarine Matson Webb and Isabel Hawxhurst Hall materials, 1909-1963, inclusive

Extent

0.42 Linear Feet in one manuscript box.

Scope and Contents

This series contains materials relating to Gregory B. Webb's wife, Clarine Matson Webb, including correspondence, brochures, newsletters, clippings, and additional ephemera. These items illuminate Clarine's involvement in local social and cultural affairs, with an emphasis on her activities as an alumni representative of the Class of 1900 of Adelphi Academy in Brooklyn, and her involvement in several historical societies and museums, particularly the Long Island Historical Society (later the Brooklyn Historical Society). A photographic portrait of Clarine is also included.

The series also includes a diary belonging to Isabel Hawxhurst Hall, an artist specializing in book illustrations, ornamental rugs, and stained glass window designs. While the nature of Hall's relationship to the Webbs is not fully known, the entries and supplemental items contained throughout her diary suggest that she was a personal friend of Clarine's and may have worked with Gregory in a professional capacity. In addition to daily entries, Hall's diary contains stained glass window drawings and designs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and programs relating to fine and performing arts, literature, fashion, architecture and interior design, social and cultural life in New York City, and the events of World War II. There are also several postcards that seem to have been collected by Hall while on various vacation trips.

Series 3: Political cartoons, 1898-1938, inclusive

Extent

0.84 Linear Feet in two manuscript boxes.

Scope and Contents

This series is comprised of original and photocopied political cartoons collected by Gregory B. Webb, as well as miscellaneous materials such as articles, satiric pieces, and a set of sheet music. Most items have been clipped from newspapers and pasted onto cardboard, often bearing period advertisements on the verso. The subject of Theodore Roosevelt dominates the series, and more often than not his persona, policies, and initiatives (particularly the Spanish-American War) are treated in a sharply satirical or critical light. A smaller amount of cartoons pertain to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and are similarly critical of his New Deal politics. Most of the clippings are culled from newspapers published in New York City, especially the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. However, the series includes many clippings taken from newspapers across the United States, including the Washington Post, the Nashville Daily News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Salt Lake Herald, the Boston Post, and the Portland Oregonian.

Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201