Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Webb, Nancy M.
- Abstract:
- This collection documents the work of linguistic anthropologist Nancy Matthews Webb (1922-1984). The collection includes materials on her research and professional activities studying the native languages of California, specifically Pomo and other Hokan group languages, and her broader work as a linguist. The collection includes glossaries and word lists of various central Native Californian languages, research and personal reference files, materials related to Webb's education, publications, language notecards, microfilm, and audio recordings of Webb's interviews with research subjects.
- Extent:
- 5.4 linear feet
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Nancy Webb Papers, D-020, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection documents the work of linguistic anthropologist Nancy Matthews Webb (1922-1984). The collection spans the years 1925-1984, with the bulk of the materials falling between 1964 and 1978. The materials cover her research and professional activities studying the native languages of California, specifically Pomo and other Hokan group languages, and her broader work as a linguist. The collection includes glossaries and word lists of various central Native Californian languages, research and personal reference files, materials related to Webb's education, publications, language notecards, microfilm, and audio recordings of Webb's interviews with research subjects.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Nancy Mathews Webb was born in Connecticut in 1922, and grew up in West Virginia until she moved to Berkeley, where Webb received her BA in zoology in 1942. After her graduation, Webb moved to Davis to work to work as a Technician and Research Assistant in the Zoology department. While at Davis, Webb met Albert Dinsmoor "Dinny" Webb, who she married in 1943. The couple moved to Tennessee where her husband, a chemist, worked on the Manhattan Project. Meanwhile, Webb served as substitute teacher in English and math rather than in the sciences because she refused to sign a certificate denying evolution, a practiced required by the state of Tennessee as a result of the Scopes Trial.
The couple moved back to Davis in 1945, where they had two children. After both children went off to college, Nancy Webb enrolled in the Anthropology Department at UC Davis. After receiving her Master's in with her thesis entitled "Phonology and Noun Morphology of the Kindibu Dialect of Kikongo" in 1965, she continued with her education. Webb would go on to receive the first Ph.D. awarded by the UC Davis Anthropology Department in 1969. Under the supervision of David L. Olmsted, Webb wrote her dissertation entitled "A Statement of Some Phonological Correspondences Among the Pomo Languages." Her work involved field research on the reconstruction of the Pomo language, but would later encompass the Hokan language group of California. Webb stayed on as Research Associate for the Anthropology department.
Webb travelled significantly, often accompanying her husband, a distinguished faculty member of the Department of Viticulture and Enology, who left on sabbaticals to research wine aromas and flavors. Webb used these sabbaticals as an opportunity to remain engaged in the field of linguistics by studying the Bantu languages in South Africa and Finno-Ugric languages in Helsinki. The Hokan languages, however, remained her primary research topic.
Nancy Webb passed away in 1984 after succumbing to breast cancer. The Linguistics Department at UC Davis currently offers an endowed scholarship in her honor.
- Processing information:
-
This collection was processed by archives intern Brenda Medina-Hernandez with help from student assistant Julie Jeon. Liz Phillips encoded the finding aid.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into six series: 1. Glossaries and Word Lists; 2. Research and Reference Files; 3. Education; 4. Professional Activities; 5. Notecards; and 6. Audio Visual Materials.
- Physical location:
- Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Nancy Webb Papers, D-020, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library100 NW QuadDavis, CA 95616-5292, US
- Contact:
- (530) 752-1621