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Title: Herbert J. Webber papers.
Date (inclusive): 1894-1968, undated
Date (bulk): 1915-1944
Collection Number: 059
Creator:
Webber, Herbert John, 1865-1946.
Extent:
14.75 linear feet
(17 document boxes, 6 glass plate negative boxes, 2 lantern slide boxes, 1 index card box, 1 flat storage box)
Repository: Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: This collection contains research notes, publications, photographs, manuscripts, and other material regarding the scientific
and professional career of Dr. Herbert J. Webber, a research scientist at the Citrus Experiment Station (CES) in Riverside,
California from 1913-1946. In addition to citrus related material, this collection includes his scientific research on guava,
avocado, dates, and non-edible crops like rubber. The collection includes a large volume of photographs documenting Dr. Webber’s
multi-year citrus experiments in the CES orchards, research notes and handwritten manuscripts from his book
The Citrus Industry, and newspaper clippings, correspondence, and photographs regarding the history and care of the Riverside Parent Navel Orange
Tree.
Languages: The collection is in English.
This collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & Archives. All
requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections
& Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the
physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by
the researcher.
[identification of item]. Herbert J. Webber papers, Collection 059. University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special
Collections & Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Information unavailable.
Processed by Hollie Johnson, 2011.
Processing of the Herbert J. Webber papers was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and administered by the
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The University of California, Riverside was awarded a Cataloging Hidden
Special Collections and Archives grant from 2010-2012, "Uncovering California's Environmental Collections," in collaboration
with eight additional special collections and archival repositories throughout the state and the California Digital Library
(CDL). Grant objectives included processing of over 33 hidden collections related to the state's environment and environmental
history. The collections document an array of important sub-topics such as irrigation, mining, forestry, agriculture, industry,
land use, activism, and research. Together they form a multifaceted picture of the natural world and the way it was probed,
altered, exploited and protected in California over the twentieth century. Finding aids are made available through the Online
Archive of California (OAC).
Herbert J. Webber was born on December 27, 1865 in Lawton, Michigan. His family moved to Nebraska in 1883. Dr. Webber earned
both his Bachelors degree and his Masters degree from the University of Nebraska. On September 8,1890 he married fellow University
on Nebraska student Lucene Anna Hardin. Between 1890-1892 Dr. Webber worked as a botany assistant at Washington University
in St. Louis Missouri. In 1892, he was offered a position with the US Department of Agriculture as an assistant pathologist
and was sent to Florida to study citrus disease. This is where he met Walter T. Swingle, a fellow plant scientist. Dr. Webber
and Walter Swingle would collaborate and publish research together many times throughout their scientific careers. Dr. Webber
earned his Ph.D from Washington University in 1901 after discovering motile antherozoids in Zamia plants. In 1907 Cornell
University asked Dr. Webber to come to New York and lead the new department of experimental plant biology. He also served
as the director of the New York State College of Agriculture between 1909 and 1910. In 1912 Dr. Webber was appointed director
of the new Citrus Experiment Station (CES) in Riverside, California. He was also named dean of the graduate school of subtropical
agriculture. Dr. Webber would spend the next 30 years involved in the orchards at CES. Between 1923-1924, Dr. Webber traveled
to South America where he studied the South American citrus industry as a special commissioner. He returned to Riverside California
in 1926. Even though Dr. Webber retired in 1936 and became professor emeritus he continued his scientific research focusing
on citrus, avocado and guava. The first volume of his book
The Citrus Industry was published in 1943. Dr. Webber died on January 18, 1946 in Riverside, California.
| 1865: | Born in Lawton, Michigan on December 27. |
| 1889: | Received a B.S. degree from the University of Nebraska. |
| 1889: | Accepted a position as a botany assistant at the University of Nebraska. |
| 1890: | Married Lucene Anna Hardin on September 8. |
| 1892: | Accepted a position as an Assistant Pathologist at the US Department of Agriculture. |
| 1897: | Moved to Washington DC and was promoted to physiologist in charge of plant breeding. |
| 1901: | Received his Ph.D from Washington University in St. Louis Missouri. |
| 1907: | Moved to New York to become the head professor of plant breeding at Cornell University. |
| 1913: | Relocated to Riverside California to become the director of the new Citrus Experiment Station and the dean of the graduate school of subtropical agriculture. |
| 1919: | Became the director of the California Agricultural Experiment Station in Berkeley, California. |
| 1923: | Traveled to South Africa to study the citrus industry and agriculture. |
| 1929: | Retired as the director of the Citrus Experiment Station in Riverside, California to focus on his scientific investigations. |
| 1936: | Retired at age 70 and became professor emeritus. |
| 1943: | Published the first volume of The Citrus Industry with Dr. Batchelor. |
| 1946: | Died in Riverside, California on January 18, |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection contains research notes, publications, photographs, manuscripts, and other material regarding the scientific
and professional career of Dr. Herbert J. Webber, a research scientist at the Citrus Experiment Station (CES) in Riverside,
California from 1913-1946. In addition to citrus related material, this collection includes his scientific research on guava,
avocado, dates, and non-edible crops like rubber. The collection includes a large volume of photographs documenting Dr. Webber’s
multi-year citrus experiments in the CES orchards, research notes and handwritten manuscripts from his book
The Citrus Industry, and newspaper clippings, correspondence, and photographs regarding the history and care of the Riverside Parent Navel Orange
Tree.
This collection is arranged into seven series. The series arrangement of this collection is as follows:
- Series 1. Citrus research and industry, 1894-1951, undated.
- Series 2. The Citrus Industry,1929-1945, undated.
- Series 3. Citrus Experiment Station (CES), 1914-1945, undated.
- Series 4. Non-citrus horticulture research and industry, 1911-1946, undated.
- Series 5. Professional papers, 1903-1938,undated.
- Series 6. Personal paper,1915-1968, undated.
- Series 7. Publications, 1888-1946, undated.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Avocado.
Citrus.
Citrus fruit industry.
Horticulture.
Uncovering California's Environmental Collections Project.
University of California Riverside. Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station.
Webber, Herbert John, 1865-1946.
Clippings (information artifacts).
Correspondence.
Lantern slides.
Manuscripts.
Negatives (photographic).
Photographs.
Publications.
Research notes.