Electra Havemeyer Webb
Encyclopedia
Electra Havemeyer Webb was a collector of American antiques and founder of the Shelburne Museum
.
and Louisine Elder, their youngest child. She attended Miss Spence's School and traveled with her family to the American West, France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece and Austria, but did not attend college.
Electra married an heir to the Vanderbilt family
fortune, James Watson Webb, Sr.
, in an elaborate society wedding at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York in 1910. They had five children, Electra (1910-1982), Samuel (1912-1988), Lila (1913-1961), James Watson, Jr.(1916-2000), and Harry (1922-1975).
Electra's in-laws, Dr. William Seward Webb
and Lila Vanderbilt Webb had transformed a collection of rambling lakeside farms on the shore of Vermont's Lake Champlain
into a model country estate. The core of property, the Shelburne Farms
, survives today as a nonprofit foundation dedicated to fostering innovative agricultural practices. Recalling her first visit to the Webb estate as a young girl Webb declared "I felt as though I was in dreamland," she was smitten by the beauty of Vermont's Champlain Valley
. On the Webb estate she enjoyed horseback riding, the one-hundred and thirteen foot steam yacht, and one of America's first private nine hole golf courses. The pastoral landscape and lush grounds of Shelburne Farms would be replicated at Electra Havemeyer Webb's museum. Shelburne Museum is well known for its fine collection of lilacs, peonies, and New England perennials
.
During World War I
, Electra Webb drove an ambulance in New York City, and was named Assistant Director of the Motor Corps. In 1942, during World War II
she joined the Civilian Defense Volunteer Organization, and directed the Pershing Square Civil Defense Center and its blood bank.
Recognizing her achievements in the museum field, Yale University
awarded Electra Havemeyer Webb an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1956. She was the fifth woman to be recognized in this manner.
She died on November 19, 1960 at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, Vermont
.
. Located just off route seven in picturesque Shelburne, Vermont
, Webb's museum quickly became a haven for the handmade objects of another era. A two hundred year old tavern shelters one of the finest collections of weathervanes, trade signs, and primitive portraits on the continent. A rambling old farmhouse is filled with spectacular assemblages of mochaware, pewter
, and staffordshire
. The finest collection of carriages and sleighs in North America rests in a unique horseshoe barn. Period homes, filled with outstanding collections of early American furniture and accessories, dot the grounds.
Rather than confine her eclectic collections to a single modern gallery, Webb chose to create an institution that would showcase her "collection of collections" in fine examples of early American homes and public buildings. A general store, meeting house, log cabin, and even a steamship dot the grounds. The entire museum reflects Electra Webb's passion for American art and design, she treasured a stunning variety of objects. Five rooms from her Park Avenue
apartment were installed in a memorial building after her death in 1960, bringing Webb's collection of works by Monet, Manet, and Degas to the museum grounds. A large pastel by Mary Cassatt, showing a young Electra Havemeyer with her mother Louisine, enjoys a place of honor in the entry hall.
Electra Havemeyer Webb began to collect "in earnest" in 1911, more than a decade before the founding of Colonial Williamsburg
and nearly a half century before authentic American antiques would return to the major rooms of the White House
. When she began to gather the remnants of an earlier America there was no National Register of Historic Places
. Americans had yet to understand that their heritage was interesting and worthy of preservation. Before there was Henry Francis Dupont's Winterthur
, Henry Ford's Greenfield Village, or even the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Electra Havemeyer Webb was an ambitious and well-known collector of Americana. She worked with the finest antique dealers of the era, including Edith Halpert and Harry Newman
, to assemble encyclopedic and irreplaceable collections of American material culture. The honesty of everyday objects spoke to Mrs. Webb, and she used her significant resources to ensure their preservation. Today the museum's Americana collection is one of the world's finest.
In 1996 the museum sold $30 millions of her artwork to pay salaries and other recurring expenses.
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
.
Biography
Electra Havemeyer was born on August 16, 1888 to Henry O. HavemeyerHenry O. Havemeyer
Henry Osborne Havemeyer was an American entrepreneur who founded the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891. He was chosen vice president and afterward its president.- Background :...
and Louisine Elder, their youngest child. She attended Miss Spence's School and traveled with her family to the American West, France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece and Austria, but did not attend college.
Electra married an heir to the Vanderbilt family
Vanderbilt family
The Vanderbilt family is an American family of Dutch origin prominent during the Gilded Age. It started off with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthropy...
fortune, James Watson Webb, Sr.
James Watson Webb, Sr.
-Biography:He was born in 1884 to Lila Osgood Vanderbilt Webb and William Seward Webb in Burlington, Vermont. He married Electra Havemeyer Webb and had as his son, James Watson Webb, Jr. He died in 1960.-References:...
, in an elaborate society wedding at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York in 1910. They had five children, Electra (1910-1982), Samuel (1912-1988), Lila (1913-1961), James Watson, Jr.(1916-2000), and Harry (1922-1975).
Electra's in-laws, Dr. William Seward Webb
William Seward Webb
William Seward Webb, M.D. was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution.-Biography:...
and Lila Vanderbilt Webb had transformed a collection of rambling lakeside farms on the shore of Vermont's Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
into a model country estate. The core of property, the Shelburne Farms
Shelburne Farms
Shelburne Farms is a nonprofit environmental education center and National Historic Landmark on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shelburne, Vermont. It is also one of the principal concert sites for the Vermont Mozart Festival....
, survives today as a nonprofit foundation dedicated to fostering innovative agricultural practices. Recalling her first visit to the Webb estate as a young girl Webb declared "I felt as though I was in dreamland," she was smitten by the beauty of Vermont's Champlain Valley
Champlain Valley
The Champlain Valley is a region of the United States around Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York extending slightly into Quebec, Canada as part of the St. Lawrence River drainage basin drained northward by the Richelieu River into the St...
. On the Webb estate she enjoyed horseback riding, the one-hundred and thirteen foot steam yacht, and one of America's first private nine hole golf courses. The pastoral landscape and lush grounds of Shelburne Farms would be replicated at Electra Havemeyer Webb's museum. Shelburne Museum is well known for its fine collection of lilacs, peonies, and New England perennials
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Electra Webb drove an ambulance in New York City, and was named Assistant Director of the Motor Corps. In 1942, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
she joined the Civilian Defense Volunteer Organization, and directed the Pershing Square Civil Defense Center and its blood bank.
Recognizing her achievements in the museum field, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
awarded Electra Havemeyer Webb an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1956. She was the fifth woman to be recognized in this manner.
She died on November 19, 1960 at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
.
Collector
Although she spent her youth among the finest examples of European and Asian material culture, Electra Havemeyer Webb's own collecting took a radical turn. Although she lived with more than twenty extremely fine Impressionist works from her parents collection in a penthouse at 740 Park Avenue during part of the year, she decorated a small pink farmhouse on 1000 acres (4 km²) portion of her in-laws estate with the simple New England furniture and craftwork. Quilts, tiger maple furniture, and hooked rugs filled the homey rooms of her country house. Although a woman of tremendous means, Webb's Vermont home was modest and comfortable in scale. Her "Brick House" survives today as a rare and intact example of the Colonial Revival, providing an intimate glimpse into the life of a pioneer collector of America and founder of the Shelburne Museum. The home was in the Webb family until 2000 when the structure and its contents were acquired by the museum. Following a 4.4 million dollar campaign by the museum to restore the home to Mrs. Webb's decor, the museum was recognized by Preservation Trust of Vermont in 2005 for their efforts in preserving the Brick House. Since 2004, it has been open to the public by reservation for guided tours during the summer months.Shelburne Museum
The closing of one of the Webb's other homes, this one near the polo grounds at Old Westbury, unintentionally birthed a museum. The question of what would become of her cigar store Indians, hunting decoys, and weather vanes had to be settled. In 1947 Electra Havemeyer Webb gathered with her friends to create Shelburne MuseumShelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
. Located just off route seven in picturesque Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne is a town in southwestern Chittenden County, Vermont, United States, along the shores of Lake Champlain. The population was 7,144 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, Webb's museum quickly became a haven for the handmade objects of another era. A two hundred year old tavern shelters one of the finest collections of weathervanes, trade signs, and primitive portraits on the continent. A rambling old farmhouse is filled with spectacular assemblages of mochaware, pewter
Pewter
Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C ,...
, and staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. The finest collection of carriages and sleighs in North America rests in a unique horseshoe barn. Period homes, filled with outstanding collections of early American furniture and accessories, dot the grounds.
Rather than confine her eclectic collections to a single modern gallery, Webb chose to create an institution that would showcase her "collection of collections" in fine examples of early American homes and public buildings. A general store, meeting house, log cabin, and even a steamship dot the grounds. The entire museum reflects Electra Webb's passion for American art and design, she treasured a stunning variety of objects. Five rooms from her Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
apartment were installed in a memorial building after her death in 1960, bringing Webb's collection of works by Monet, Manet, and Degas to the museum grounds. A large pastel by Mary Cassatt, showing a young Electra Havemeyer with her mother Louisine, enjoys a place of honor in the entry hall.
Electra Havemeyer Webb began to collect "in earnest" in 1911, more than a decade before the founding of Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
and nearly a half century before authentic American antiques would return to the major rooms of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. When she began to gather the remnants of an earlier America there was no National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Americans had yet to understand that their heritage was interesting and worthy of preservation. Before there was Henry Francis Dupont's Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...
, Henry Ford's Greenfield Village, or even the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Electra Havemeyer Webb was an ambitious and well-known collector of Americana. She worked with the finest antique dealers of the era, including Edith Halpert and Harry Newman
Harry Newman
Harry Lawrence Newman was an American football quarterback who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines , the New York Giants , and the Brooklyn/Rochester Tigers .-College career:...
, to assemble encyclopedic and irreplaceable collections of American material culture. The honesty of everyday objects spoke to Mrs. Webb, and she used her significant resources to ensure their preservation. Today the museum's Americana collection is one of the world's finest.
In 1996 the museum sold $30 millions of her artwork to pay salaries and other recurring expenses.
Further reading
- Electra Havemeyer Webb Biography in "The Influences Behind the Shelburne Museum" at Academics Content Server at Saint Michael's College
- "Electra's Cultural Jewel at Shelburne Museum" in Vermont Woman Magazine, 2004
- "'Collector's gene' yields a trove of Americana: Electra Webb made Shelburne Museum her monument" in The Boston Globe
- Women's History: Electra Havemeyer Webb
- Danilov, Victor J. Women and museums: a comprehensive guide. Rowman Altamira, 2005
- Karp, WalterWalter KarpWalter Karp was an American journalist, historian, and writer published in magazines such as American Heritage and Horizon, and also was a contributing editor for Harper's magazine , which re-published some of his political history books in 2003...
, "Electra Webb and Her American Past", American HeritageAmerican Heritage (magazine)American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
, April/May 1982 (33:3) - Rothstein, EdwardEdward RothsteinEdward Rothstein is a critic and a composer.Rothstein holds a B.A. from Yale University , an M.A. in English literature from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago...
, "Critic's Notebook: The Art of Collecting Collections", The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, May 20, 2011.