Jessie Webb - Legacy

Legacy

Webb's contribution to history and the teaching of history in Melbourne has been little noticed by subsequent generations. That Webb did not publish any historical work has contributed to this, though Kathleen Fitzpatrick has said that Webb "underestimated her ability and scholarship, and probably felt handicapped by distance from ancient sites, great libraries and professional colleagues which could not be bridged by rare periods of overseas leave." Susan Janson has posited that the strong focus on the publication of research is an aspect of later generations, and that Webb "was trained in an older tradition that stressed the pedagogical imperative for history".

Though Webb did not publish, she was for the most part well regarded for the quality of her teaching and the scholarship that went into her lectures. To the practice of history as taught at Melbourne, Webb brought an emphasis on historiography, and critical investigation of secondary material, alongside an associated emphasis on the use of primary sources. Richard Selleck argues that for the quality of her teaching, Webb "was respected in her time and honoured after her career finished," distinguishing herself particularly in delivering an excellent standard of education to the night students and the correspondence students, two groups not favoured by the central administration of the University. Ronald Ridley has praised the scope of her teaching, encompassing not just political but economic, social and cultural history, and covering not merely Greek and Roman civilisation but their antecedents in the region also, the introduction of which into the curriculum Ridley regards as her "most fundamental contribution to the students' awareness. Though Manning Clark was disappointed at the lack of "wisdom and understanding" he had sought but failed to find in Webb's lectures, A. A. Phillips praised her knack for human observation, which he compared to that of Jane Austen, and Keith Hancock rated her among the best three teachers he had at Melbourne.

While Webb's speciality was Ancient Greek history, she was well read in all classical history; she had a strong interest in Roman history, and followed the rapidly developing fields of Egyptian and Mesopotamian history and archaeology throughout her career. Former students noted the breadth of Webb's interests and reading, and her frequent inclusion of the best contemporary research in her lectures. Susan Janson has praised the sustained quality and variety of the large number of exam papers Webb set over the course of her career, and argued that "f we take as our evidence of Jessie Webb's productivity, we can revalue her work as a historian."