Original cartoon drawings and sketches, published cartoons, memorabilia and photographs of 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.
