University Archives
& Special Collections

K.G.T. Webster Castle Collection

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION | COLLECTION HISTORY | MAJOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Kenneth Grant Tremayne Webster (1871-1942) may have followed his older brother to Dalhousie University, but once there he set his own course. Leaving it to his brother to carry on the Webster family medical tradition, Kenneth pursued his own interest. He developed a passion for mediaeval literature, due in no small part to the inspired teaching of a newly appointed professor of English, Dr. Archibald MacMechan.

Upon graduation from Dalhousie with his BA in 1892, Kenneth was accepted at Harvard University. Except for a five year period teaching at the nearby Milton Academy outside Boston, and a year of study at the University of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Kenneth would spend the rest of his academic career at Harvard. After receiving three Harvard degrees--BA in 1893, MA in 1894, and PhD in 1902--Kenneth Webster was offered a teaching position in the Harvard English Department. He officially retired from teaching in 1936 but continued on with his mediaeval studies research until his death in 1942.

While at Dalhousie, Kenneth Webster had been introduced to an exciting field of study that would occupy his creative and intellectual abilities for the next fifty years. He was grateful to Dalhousie and to his first English professor, Dr. MacMechan, for the introduction. As a student at Harvard and later when he was establishing his career, Kenneth Webster often sought advice and direction from Dr. MacMechan. A warm and mutually supportive relationship evolved. In their thirty-seven year correspondence, Kenneth Webster also sought news about Dalhousie friends and how things were going at his alma mater. He may have relocated to Harvard, but Dr. Webster was still concerned about the advancement of higher education in his native province and specifically at Dalhousie.

While he was quite capable of becoming totally preoccupied with the subtleties in the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere, Dr. Webster also had a very practical mind and was a man of action. He was willing to devote his time, energy and resources to the causes he believed in. One cause he supported was the advancement of Dalhousie. In 1907 he helped to organize and served as the first president of the New England chapter of the Dalhousie Alumni Association. Under his leadership the organization raised funds to support the expansion of programmes at Dalhousie. Working with Dr. MacMechan, Webster also raised funds in memory of one of his Dalhousie classmates, Emily Harrington. The memorial took the form of appropriate book purchases and journal subscriptions to the University Library. Dr. Webster also assisted in recruiting both qualified faculty and students for Dalhousie, especially during the Great War.

In 1914, Dr. Webster made the first of numerous book donations to the Library's general collection. For his many efforts on behalf of the University and in recognition of his contributions to mediaeval studies, Dalhousie University awarded Dr. Webster an honourary degree in 1930. The award was richly deserved. It was fitting that Dr. Webster's teacher, friend, and mentor, Dr. Archibald MacMechan, would write the honourary degree citation for his former student.

Ironically, one of Kenneth Webster's most significant contributions to Dalhousie University would not have been mentioned in the 1930 citation. The decision to bequeath his personal research library to the Dalhousie University Library came later. Helping to develop the Library's medieval studies collection was Dr. Webster's very concrete and enduring legacy for future Dalhousie faculty members and students.

An over-night boat service between Yarmouth and Boston made it easy to travel between Boston and Nova Scotia. After his first wife died in 1926, Kenneth Webster frequently made the over-night trip. He enjoyed visiting his family in Yarmouth, going to auctions, talking to people, and exploring the Nova Scotia countryside. During one of his trips he discovered the historic Ross-Thompson House in Shelburne was up for sale and saw the opportunity to follow up on his interest in house restoration. He purchased the house in 1932 and started some preliminary work. As with his scholarly work, ill-health and his premature death intervened before he was able to carry out all his plans for the house. In 1949 his heirs presented the house to the province and it is now part of the Nova Scotia Museum system.

One of the publications of the Turtle Press--the private press set up by Dr. Webster's second wife, Deborah--presented the research Dr. Webster did on the history of the Ross-Thompson House. Deborah Webster also published and illustrated her late husband's Guinevere, A Study of Her Abductions in 1951 and worked with Roger Loomis to publish Dr. Webster's translation of Lanzelot: a Romance of Lancelot. With their gift of the Ross-Thompson House to the people of Nova Scotia and their efforts to ensure the publication of Dr. Webster's most important research, his family carried on Kenneth Webster's high standard of public service and scholarhip.