Biography
Electra Havemeyer was born on August 16, 1888 to Henry O. Havemeyer and Louisine Elder, their youngest child. She attended Miss Spence's School and traveled with her family to the American West, France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece and Austria, but did not attend college.
Electra married an heir to the Vanderbilt family fortune, James Watson Webb, Sr., in an elaborate society wedding at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York in 1910. They had five children, Electra (1910–1982), Samuel (1912–1988), Lila (1913–1961), James Watson, Jr.(1916–2000), and Harry (1922–1975).
Electra's in-laws, Dr. William Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb had transformed a collection of rambling lakeside farms on the shore of Vermont's Lake Champlain into a model country estate. The core of property, the Shelburne Farms, survives today as a nonprofit foundation dedicated to fostering innovative agricultural practices. Recalling her first visit to the Webb estate as a young girl Webb declared "I felt as though I was in dreamland," she was smitten by the beauty of Vermont's Champlain Valley. On the Webb estate she enjoyed horseback riding, the one-hundred and thirteen foot steam yacht, and one of America's first private nine hole golf courses. The pastoral landscape and lush grounds of Shelburne Farms would be replicated at Electra Havemeyer Webb's museum. Shelburne Museum is well known for its fine collection of lilacs, peonies, and New England perennials.
During World War I, Electra Webb drove an ambulance in New York City, and was named Assistant Director of the Motor Corps. In 1942, during World War II she joined the Civilian Defense Volunteer Organization, and directed the Pershing Square Civil Defense Center and its blood bank.
Recognizing her achievements in the museum field, Yale University awarded Electra Havemeyer Webb an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1956. She was the fifth woman to be recognized in this manner.
She died on November 19, 1960 at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, Vermont.
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