History of Special Collections @ Colby

Carl Jefferson Weber: Brief Biography

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by Meghan Kelly, Class of 2017

As scholar and professor, curator and editor, Carl Jefferson Weber is prominent in Colby’s history. He served on the faculty at Colby for thirty-nine years, as an English professor (receiving the title Roberts Professor of English Literature in 1928 and the chairmanship of that department for thirty years, until 1953, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, in which capacity he developed Special Collections into a more prominent archive than it had ever been before, as the editor of the Colby Library Quarterly, and as the founder and editor of the Colby College Press (1, 4). Recognized in scholarly circles beyond the scope of Colby, Professor Weber was known as one of the world’s preeminent experts on the life and writings of British author Thomas Hardy. His devotion to the study of Hardy was so great that according to a story circulating within Maine academic circles, one of his children once told a family friend that “‘We call [the cat] Tess after Tess of the D’Urbervilles…so that papa will let us keep it” (6).

Born in Baltimore in 1894, Weber received his first bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1914 (2). He then received a Rhodes scholarship to study at Queens College at Oxford, England, where he earned a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree (2). During the First World War, he served an adjutant officer in the 69th Field Artillery (3). After the war, he returned to the United States and began teaching at Colby in 1918 (2). From 1920 to 1922, he taught at his alma mater Johns Hopkins and the United States Naval Academy; in 1922, he returned to Colby (2). In 1921, he married Clara Carter (Colby ’21) (2). The couple had two children, David in 1924 and Dorothy 1926 (2).

Weber was an unusually prolific scholar; he so regularly published books and articles on Thomas Hardy that he acquired the nickname of “Colby’s Hardy Perennial” (4). Some of his more significant books on Hardy include Hardy of Wessex, a biography originally published in 1940 (4); Hardy and the Lady from Madison Square, a book detailing the relationship between Hardy and a Ms. Rebekah Owen of New York, who became so interested in Hardy’s writing that she traveled to England, developing a close relationship with him (6); Hardy at Colby, a compilation describing all Hardy-related materials in the Colby library to that date (7); Dearest Emmie, a collection of Thomas Hardy’s letters to his first wife, Emma Lavinia Gifford (8); and Hardy’s Love Poems, a compilation of poetry Hardy wrote to Emma Hardy (9).

In addition to these original publications, Weber contributed introductions and annotation to various reprints of many of Hardy’s novels, including Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure (10). In a piece of literary detective work which garnered him much attention, Weber accumulated evidence that a Hardy novella published in the magazine “New Quarterly” was in reality most of Hardy’s first, unpublished and called “lost,” novel, An Indiscretion in the Life of an Heiress, which two publishers rejected in novel form (11). Other significant books by Weber include A Bibliography of the Published Writings of Jacob Abbot (12); A Centennial Bibliography of the Published Writings of Sarah Orne Jewett, which he wrote in collaboration with Clara Weber (4); A Thousand and One Fore-Edge Paintings (13); a Centennial Edition of Edward FitzGerald’s famous translation of “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” (14); and The Rise and Fall of James Ripley Osgood (15). At time of his retirement as chair of the English department in 1953, he had authored more publications than anyone associated with Colby (4).

Despite the significance of his scholarship and teaching, Weber’s work as the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts in Special Collections in the library is often considered his most important legacy. While in this position, he worked to build Special Collections’ prominence as an archive, in particular contributing to the accumulation of one of the most complete collections on the life and works of Thomas Hardy in the world. Weber took great personal pride in the quality of the Hardy collection; he wrote in the Colby Alumnus in 1940 that despite “making all due allowances for the superiorities that may justly be claimed by certain specialists among Hardy collectors, we can still feel assured that ours is more varied, more extensive, more complete, in certain fields more exhaustive, than any other” (16). Crucial to this growth was Weber’s skill in attracting donors to the library. As each new donation improved the quality of Special Collections, the archive’s reputation in the realm of academia spread and more donors became motivated to contribute to the library. A friend of Weber’s is reported to have described this ability: “Professor Weber makes you feel he is doing you a favor when he accepts a book, because you know it will have loving treatment and permanent care” (4).

Another contribution of Weber’s was his foundation of the Colby Library Quarterly in 1943 (17), which he continued to edit until his retirement in 1959 (4). The Quarterly printed scholarly articles related to items held in Special Collections in the library and documented expansions of the library, whether through donation or purchase (17). The Quarterly became well known among a variety of American universities and research libraries, a status attained by few publications of small college libraries; many Colby officials attribute this success in part to the editorship of Professor Weber (4). Weber is also known for editing the Colby College Press, which his close relationship with a prominent American printer named Fred Anthoensen helped make successful (4). He served in this capacity for thirteen years, from 1946 until his retirement in 1959 (18). The Press printed primarily publications authored by scholars affiliated with Colby, including many pieces by Weber himself.

In 1959, Carl Weber retired after thirty nine years on the faculty at Colby (1). In the year following his retirement, he traveled over twenty-two thousand miles giving lectures at universities throughout the United States; he also taught a seminar on poetry of the Romantic Revival at the University of Colorado in the spring semester of 1960 (19). In 1964, he won a research grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, which he used to study the letters of Thomas Hardy (20). Weber passed away in December of 1966 at age 72 (21). His death was felt throughout the Colby community as well as within his immediate family.

Works Cited

  1. “Carl Jefferson Weber, Prominent Man, Retires,” March 11, 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  2. Weber, Carl Jefferson. Faculty Biographical Information for Colby College Publicity Department. 7 February 1946. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  3. Weber, Carl Jefferson. Faculty Biographical Information for Colby College Publicity Department. 6 November 1950. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  4. “Editor, Teacher, Scholar.” Colby Alumnus April 1953: 6-8. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  5. Telegram Chuckle. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  6. “New Book By Prof. Carl J. Weber Deals With Events in Hardy’s Life.” Waterville Morning Sentinel 7 April, 1952. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  7. Lord, Alice Frost. “Hardyana at Colby College Is Unique in Literary World—Work of Prof. Weber.” Lewiston Journal Illustrated Magazine Section. 1 August 1936. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  8. “Hardy Letters Are Edited by Prof. Carl Weber.” Waterville Morning Sentinel. 23 May 1963. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections
  9. “A Selection from Early Reviews: Hardy’s Love Poems.” St. Martin’s Press. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  10. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 12 December 1956. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  11. Morley, Christopher. “An Indiscretion.” Streamliners (1933). Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  12. “Another Book in Colby College Series.” 23 September 1948. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  13. “Books Published Today.” New York Times. 2 May 1949. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  14. “Colby Hails Centenary of a Famous Book.” Colby College Press. 31 March 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  15. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 27 November 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  16. Weber, Prof. Carl J. “The Hardy Collection at Colby.” The Colby Alumnus. April 1940: 5-8. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  17. Introduction. Nineteenth Century English Books. University of Illinois Press, 1952. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  18. “Elder Statesman in the World of Scholarship.” The Colby Alumnus. Fall1959: 16-17. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  19. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 18 December 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  20. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 17 January 1964. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
  21. “Dr. Carl J. Weber, Former Colby Professor and Noted Writer, Dies.” Waterville Morning Sentinnel. 20 December 1966. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.