Kathleen McKee Butts papers, 1904-1977
A Guide to her Papers at the Indiana University Archives
Finding aid prepared by Jeannine Roe
Summary Information
Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
Creator
Butts, Kathleen McKee, 1900-1977.
TitleKathleen McKee Butts papers, 1904-1977
Collection No.
C601
Extent
.6 cubic feet (2 boxes)
Language
Materials are in English
Abstract
Kathleen McKee Butts attended IU Bloomington from 1918-1921, though she did not complete her degree.
The bulk of materials included are her writings, which consist of radio scripts, stories, and editorials
published in the Plainfield Messenger circa 1934. Personal materials consist mainly of items retained by
Butt's father, Dr. Joseph Fennell McKee, and are comprised of correspondence, legal documents, newspaper
clippings, and pocket-sized notebooks. Much of the information in these records pertains to Dr. McKee,
his wife Irene Sullivan McKee and her father John E. Sullivan, and the subsequent legal proceedings and
personal issues involving their divorce and custody of their child Kathleen.
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
Biographical Note
Kathleen McKee Butts was born June 7th, 1900. She
attended Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, where she was a staff member for the school's
Daily Echo
newspaper. After graduating in 1918 she enrolled at Indiana University
in Bloomington, majoring in English and minoring in Journalism. Though she did not complete her degree,
she worked as a reporter for the Indiana Daily Student until 1921.
On May 24, 1922 McKee married Albert W. Butts in
Marian County, Indiana. After that point she worked for several advertising agencies and publishers in
Indiana and Washington, D.C., and wrote editorials for Plainfield, Indiana's Plainfield Messenger in
1934. She wrote a number of stories and radio scripts, some of which were
submitted for publication but not picked up. Kathleen wrote under several pseudonyms, including Kay McKee,
K. Wesley Butts, and McKee Butts.
The available story of Kathleen's life is limited, and told mostly through letters, newspaper clippings,
and notes kept by her father between 1902 and 1944.
Her parents, Dr. Joseph Fennell McKee and Irene Sullivan McKee, divorced messily in 1904. J. F. McKee
fought unsuccessfully for years to gain full custody of Kathleen, ultimately growing estranged from her.
During the 1940s Dr. McKee attempted to reconnect with
Kathleen, corresponding with a number of individuals and attorneys in attempt to locate his daughter and
her husband. A letter was sent to Kathleen with an incomplete address, and was returned unclaimed. It
is unclear if she ever reconnected with her father, and she died in July 1977.
Arrangement
Collection is organized into two series: Writings and Personal Materials.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of the papers of Kathleen McKee Butts in two series, Writings and Personal Materials. The
Writings series (1934-1949) contains many of Kathleen’s unpublished works, including 17 radio scripts,
8 stories or story outlines, and several editorials published in the Plainfield Messenger in 1934.
The second series, Personal materials (1904-1944), contains a variety of papers in four file folders,
including correspondence, business and legal documents, and three pocket notebooks with dates and notes
ade by Dr. Joseph Fennell McKee from 1904-1906. Correspondence is separated into two files. One file
contains letters from John E. Sullivan and Irene Sullivan McKee to J.F. McKee, some dated 1902 and some
undated, which give details about their relationships before their divorce in May 1904. The second file
holds letters sent by J. F. McKee to numerous individuals in the 1940s when he was attempting to locate
his daughter and her husband before his death. A third folder contains a number of clippings from
Indianapolis newspapers hand-dated 1904-1905 documenting the highly litigious activities of the McKees
and Sullivans. Legal documents pertaining to John E. Sullivan's death, Kathleen's child custody case,
and the assigning of a guardian ad litem during the last part of her life are also included. The fourth
folder contains Butt's résumé and two letters of recommendation from 1934. Seven photographs of
unidentified people, farmland, dogs and chickens with no accompanying documentation have been removed.
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Indexing Terms
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The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries'
online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by
searching the catalog using these terms.
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Photographs Pulled
7 unlabeled photographs of people, farmland, dogs and chickens with no accompanying documentation. Contact
the Archives Photograph Curator for further information.
Related Material
Related photographs may be available in the
University Archives Photographs Database.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Accession: 2015/100
Usage RestrictionsThe donor(s) of this collection have transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University
through a Deed of Gift. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for
non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility
for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials.
Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these
materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational
and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its
inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Item], Kathleen McKee Butts papers, Collection C601, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Gift of Benita Kaplan, friend and neighbor of Ms. Butts.
Processing InformationProcessed by Jeannine Roe.
Completed in 2015.
Container List
Series:
Box 1
Writings,
1934,
1949,
undated
Plainfield Messenger Editorials,
1934
Story Outlines,
undated
Story Ideas,
undated
Stories,
undated
The Twins Planting of a Garden of Love
Sammy Squirrel
Gogi and the Circud
The Animals Go on a Trip
Her Grace’s Words
A Happy Schedule for the Family Car
Radio Programs,
For Better or for Worse,
undated
Third Honeymoon,
8 July 1949
Lullaby for Two,
25 April 1949
International Magicade,
undated
Winner Pays All,
undated
I, Citizen, U.S.A.,
undated
Washington Lobby,
undated
Everybody’s Job,
undated
What the Music Says,
undated
The Name is Brown…
Mister Brown,
undated
Man of Personality,
undated
Fables for 1949,
undated
Capital Lobby,
undated
Saturday Morning’s Children,
undated
A Call for Arabella,
undated
Radio Plays,
undated
A Little Girl’s White Dress
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Series:
Box 2
Personal Materials,
1904-1906,
1943-1944,
undated
Binder (radio program descriptions and script examples),
undated
Legal Documents, Clippings, Notebooks,
1904-1906,
undated
Correspondence,
1902-1905,
1943-1944,
undated
(2 folders)
Resume and Letters of Recommendation,
1934,
undated
