Title: Harold Tucker Webster Cartoons, Photographs, and Memorabilia
Inclusive Dates: 1911-1953

Creator:

• Webster, Harold Tucker, 1885-1952

Call Number: Mss 1032; PH 1301

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (3 archives boxes), and 55 photographs and approximately 4500 additional items (in 83 flat boxes and 1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Original cartoon drawings and sketches, published cartoons, memorabilia, and photographs of Harold Tucker Webster, a cartoonist raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin who was best known for his work for the New York Herald Tribune. Best covered are the strips “Life's Darkest Moment,” “How to Torture Your Wife/Husband,” and “The Timid Soul,” which featured Webster's most famous character, Caspar Milquetoast. Memories of Tucker's Wisconsin youth are alluded to in many strips. Less well known themes concerned Prohibition, radio and television broadcasting, card games, and vacationing with automobile trailers. Except for a few colored drawings of “The Timid Soul,” all of the drawings are in pen and ink, some with blue pencil shading added for the printer. The sketch books primarily contain pencil portraits, but a few document scenes from a 1911 trip to China. The photographs consist of formal and informal portraits and snapshots of leisure time activities including his love of the circus. Several show Webster at a 1940 event with Thomas E. Dewey. The memorabilia includes promotional material, biographical information, and letters of commendation from Gertrude Stein, Theodore Roosevelt, and others. Some of the books of published cartoons in this collection were separated from the August Derleth comic collection.

Note:

There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01032

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Use Restrictions

Individuals or corporate bodies other than the Wisconsin Historical Society may hold the copyright for a portion of this collection. Permission from the appropriate copyright holder(s) may be required before reproducing items from this collection.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. H. T. Webster, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1961. Accession Number: MCHC61-001

Mss 1032 Box   3 Folder   1	Series: Memorabilia
	Series: Published cartoons	⇧
Box   1 Folder   1	Best of H.T. Webster: A Memorial Collection, 1953
Box   1 Folder   2	Boys and Folks, 1917
Box   1 Folder   3	Culbertson-Webster Contract System, 1932
Box   1 Folder   4	Grand Slams, 1938
Box   1 Folder   5	How to Torture Your Wife/Husband [cased set], 1948
Box   2 Folder   1	Our Boyhood Thrills and Other Cartoons, 1915
Box   3 Folder   2	The Timid Soul, 1931
Box   2 Folder   2	To Hell with Fishing, 1945
Box   2 Folder   3	Webster Unabridged, 1945 (also American Mercury edition, , 1946)
Box   2 Folder   4	Webster's Bridge, 4th printing, 1928
Box   2 Folder   5	Webster's Poker Book, 1925
Box   3 Folder   3	Who Dealt This Mess?1948
PH 1301	Series: Cartoon drawings	⇧
	“The Boy/Girl Who Made Good”
Box   78	1926-1929
Box   79	1930-1931
Box   80	1932-1934
Box   81	1935-1937
	“Bridge”
	15x18
Box   1	1940-1942
Box   2	1950-1957
Box   3	Undated
	17x22
Box   34	1922-1933
Box   35	1934-1939
Box   36	1943-1947
	“How to Torture Your Wife/Husband”
Box   4	15x18, 1940-1943
	17x22
Box   37	1919-1929
Box   38	1944-1957
	20x25
Box   52	1930-1935
Box   53	1935-1937
Box   54	1937-1938
	“Life's Darkest Moments”
	15x18
Box   5	1940-1943
Box   6	1944-1949
Box   7	1950-1952
Box   41	1953-1957
	17x22
Box   39	1930-1934
Box   40	1935-1939
	20x25
Box   63	1918-1921
Box   64	1921-1924
Box   65	1925
Box   66	1926-1928
Box   67	1936-1948
	“And Nothing Can Be Done About It”
Box   42	17x22, 1931-1937
	15x18
Box   8	1941-1943
Box   9	1943-1945
Box   10	1945-1946
Box   11	1947-1948
Box   12	1948-1950
Box   13	1950-1952
	“Poker Portraits”
Box   57	1919-1921
Box   58	1922-1925
Box   59	1927-1930
Box   14	“Prohibition”, 1919-1927
	“The Thrill of a Lifetime”
	15x18
Box   15	1928-1929
Box   16	1936-1939
Box   17	1940-1942
Box   18	1950-1959
Box   19	Undated
	17x22
Box   43	1930-1935
Box   44	1943-1949
	20x25
Box   55	1919-1925
Box   56	1926-1927
	“The Timid Soul”
	15x18
Box   20	1945-1949
Box   21	1951-1957
Box   22	Undated
	17x22
Box   45	1924-1929
Box   46	1930-1933
Box   47	1934-1939
	20x25
Box   60	1941, 1946
Box   61	1940-1942
Box   62	, 1942-1944 (includes color)
	24x30
Box   75	1946-1948
Box   76	1948-1951
Box   77	1951-1953
	“Trailer Tintypes”
Box   23	1937
Box   24	1937-1938
Box   25	1938-1939
Box   26	1939-1940
Box   27	1940
Box   28	1941
Box   29	1942-1943
	“The Unseen Audience”
Box   32	1943-1949
Box   31	1950-1951, 1957, undated
Box   30	Undated
	Miscellaneous themes
Box   33	15x18
	17x22
Box   48	“The Beginning/End of a Beautiful Friendship”
Box   48	“The Card”
Box   49	“Everybody Else's Job Looks Better to Me than Mine”
Box   50	“There Must Be an Explanation for It”
Box   50	“Give Us a Chance”
Box   50	“Are Your Listening?”
Box   50	“All in a Day's Work”
Box   50	“The Great American Sense of Humor”
Box   50	“Are You One of Those Spineless Creatures?”
Box   51	“And Right There is Where I Made My Big Mistake”
Box   82	20x25, Miscellaneous, undated
	Unidentified drawings
Box   68	1919
Box   69	1920-1921
Box   70	1922-1923
Box   71	1923
Box   72	1924
Box   73	1925-1926
Box   74	1927-1928
	Series: Sketch books	⇧
Box   83	Large notebook
Box   84	Small notebooks, including China trip
	Series: Photographs	⇧
Box   84	Standard size photographs
Box   83	Oversize portraits