Webb, Walter Prescott

Webb, Walter Prescott, 1888–1963, U.S. historian, b. Panola co., Tex. He joined the faculty of the history department at the Univ. of Texas in 1918, received his Ph.D. in 1932, and became full professor the following year. A distinguished scholar and teacher, Webb was Harkness lecturer in American history at the Univ. of London in 1938 and Harmsworth professor of American history at Oxford Univ. (1942–43). He became president of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (1953) and the American Historical Association (1958). His works, which deal mainly with the history of the American West, include The Great Plains (1931), The Texas Rangers (1935, 2d ed. 1965), Divided We Stand (1937), The Great Frontier (1952), and An Honest Preface and Other Essays (1959).