Butler mss., 1835-1937
Summary Information
Repository
Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
Lilly Library
Indiana University
1200 E. Seventh St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-5500
Phone: 812-855-2452
Fax: 812-855-3143
Email: liblilly@indiana.edu
Creator
Butler, Amos W. 1860-1937.
TitleButler mss., 1835-1937
Collection No.
LMC 1177
Extent
10,597 items
Language
Materials are in English.
Abstract
The Butler mss., 1835-1937, includes
papers, 1877-1937, of Amos William Butler, 1860-1937, zoologist, anthropologist, and
sociologist, and a few papers, 1835-1871, of his father, William Wallace Butler,
1810-1903, merchant and farmer.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Biographical Note
Career of William Wallace Butler: born, Brookville, Indiana, March 11, 1810, the son
of Amos Butler, 1770-1837, and Mary (Wallace) Butler, 1786-1852; moved with parents
to Hanover, Indiana, attended Hanover College; returned to Brookville, 1832; started
a general mercantile business, 1835; disposed of goods and devoted himself to
superintending his farms and other business, 1842; married three times; son, Amos
William Butler, child of third marriage; died November 21, 1903.
Career of Amos William Butler: born, Brookville, Indiana, October 1, 1860, the son of
William Wallace Butler and Hannah (Wright) Butler; educated in Brookville schools,
including a year or more at Brookville College; attended Hanover College; spent
winter, 1879-1880, in Mexico, nominally attached to U.S. legation at Mexico City but
actually engaged in field work in zoology and archaeology; before completing
education spent several years in insurance business in Brookville, Indiana; married
Mary I. Reynolds of Brookville, June 2, 1880; a founder of the Brookville Society of
Natural History, 1881; a founder of the Indiana Academy of Science, 1885; A.B.,
Indiana University, 1894; president, Indiana Academy of Science, 1895;
ornithologist, Department of Geology and Resources of Indiana, 1896-1897; secretary,
Indiana Board of State Charities, 1898-1923; a founder of Indiana Audubon Society,
1898; president of Indiana State Truancy Board, 1898-1912, secretary, 1913-1921;
A.M., Indiana University, 1900; a founder of American Anthropological Association,
1902; lecturer on economics, Purdue University, 1905; later lectured on public
charities at Purdue, Indiana University, the University of Chicago, the Lane
Theological Seminary, and the Chicago School of Philanthropy; president of National
Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1906-1907; member of White House children's
conference, 1909; president of American Prison Association, 1909-1910; chairman of
American Committee on the International Prison Congress, Washington, D.C., 1910;
LLD, Hanover College, 1915; Ph.D., Butler University, 1915; president of Indiana
Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1915; secretary of Indiana Commission on
Mental Defectives, 1915; delegate to 2nd Pan American Scientific Congress,
Washington, D.C., 1915-1916; a founder of the Society of Indiana Pioneers, 1916;
chairman of executive committee of Indiana Society for Mental Hygiene, 1918-1925; a
founder of the American Mammalogists, 1919; LLD, Indiana University, 1922; delegate
from the U.S. to the International Prison Congress, London, 1925; president of
Indiana Society for Mental Hygiene, 1925-1930; senior sociologist, U.S. Bureau of
Efficiency to advise the Congressional committee on Federal Penal and Reformatory
Institutions, 1928-1929; member of Advisory Committee to President Hoover's National
Committee on Law Observance and Enforcement, 1929-1931; secretary of Indiana
Committee on Observance and Enforcement of Law, 1929-1931; a founder of the
International Commission on Mental Hygiene, and a member of the 1st International
Congress on Mental Hygiene, Washington, D.C., 1930; delegate from the U.S. to the
International Prison Congress, Prague, 1930; member of the executive board of the
American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, 1935; member American
Ornithologists' Union; and fellow, American Association for the Advancement of
Science.
Biographical data from Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr.,
"Amos
William Butler,"
Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, XLVII:
21-25, 1937; B.W. Evermann,
"Amos William Butler,"
Audubon Year Book of the Indiana Audubon Society,
1932, pp. 5-19.
Lists of Butler's numerous writings appear in the
Proceedings
of the Indiana Academy of Science
, XLVII: 25-30, 1937, and in the
Audubon Year Book of the Indiana Audubon Society, 1932,
pp. 5-19.
Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Wallace Butler in the collection consist of the indentures, tax
receipts, a "subscription for the erection of a
Presbyterian church in the town of Brookville, Indiana," March 29, 1848;
Franklin County, Indiana Bible Society, "Report of a
committee appointed to examine the accounts of the society," April 1852;
and notes for a
"History of Presbyterianism in and about
Brookville, Indiana"
by Ludlow D. Potter, 1852.
The papers of Amos William Butler from 1877-1888 deal almost entirely with zoological
subjects, particularly birds. The later years of the collection also contain
material on these subjects, but from 1889 on the bulk of the papers relate to
charities and corrections, including material on prisons, reformatories, parole,
probation, insanity, feeble-mindedness, mental hygiene, orphanages, child welfare,
the blind, etc.; the work of the Indiana Board of state charities; notes on Indiana
and other U.S. institutions of charities and corrections; meetings of the
International Prison Congress, American Prison Association, the National Conference
of Charities and Corrections, and the National Commission on Law Observance and
Enforcement, and the Indiana Society for Mental Hygiene, the Indiana State
Conference of Charities and Corrections, and the Indiana Committee on Observance and
Enforcement of Law. The collection also contains papers on: the early history of
Brookville, Indiana; Hanover College; and various other societies of which Butler
was a member, among them being the Brookville Society of Natural History; the
Indiana Academy of Science, 1886-1936; the Indiana Audubon Society, 1907-1930; the
Society of Indiana Pioneers; and the World Peace Foundation.
Photographs include pictures of Amos William Butler and members of his family,
Florida, particularly New Smyrna and vicinity, and Aztec remains in Mexico. There
are also clippings, 1885-1937; printed materials on charities and corrections and
related subjects, scientific societies, the Irvington Presbyterian church of
Indianapolis, Indiana, and universities; and four scrapbooks, 1907-1908, 1910, and
1923-1927, containing pictures, programs, clippings, pamphlets, and maps.
Note on Indexing Term - "International relations": Later in life Butler became
deeply involved with social reform and included in his papers is material pertaining to the World Peace
Foundation in Boston.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Acquired 1939-1940
Usage RestrictionsPrior arrangements are not necessary before coming to the Library, however,
patrons from out of town are encouraged to communicate with the Library in
advance of their visits to ascertain availability of materials.
Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Curator of Manuscripts, Lilly
Library.
Preferred Citation
Butler mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Series:
Box 1
Materials relating to Butler family
Consult the Manuscripts Index in the Library for dates of letters of
individual correspondents.
Correspondence, 1835-1897
(31 folders)
Includes:
- Natural history notes, 1884-1892 (1 folder)
- Notes of visits-Eastern hospital, 1891 (1 folder)
- Notes of visits-Soldiers and sailors orphans home, 1891-1914 (1
folder)
- Natural history notes, 1893-1897 (1 folder, 1
notebook)
- Notes of visits-State prison, 1894-1916 (1 folder, 6
notebooks)
Box 2
Correspondence, 1898-1909, Oct. 15
(31 folders)
Includes:
- Notes of visits - Reformatory, 1902-1914 (1 folder)
- Notes of visits - School for Deaf, 1904 (1 folder)
- Notes of visits - Soldiers' Home, 1904 (1 folder)
Box 3
Correspondence, 1909, Oct. 16-1913, Aug.
(26 folders)
Includes:
- R.S.V.P cards for Indiana Academy of Science banquet, Nov. 26, 1909 (1 envelope)
- Ticket stubs for Indiana Academy of Science banquet, Nov. 26, 1909 (1 envelope)
Box 4
Correspondence, 1913, Sept.-1917, Dec.
(25 folders)
Includes:
-
Mental Defectives in Indiana,
1916,
Nov. 10;
Indiana, A Century of Progress: A Study
of the Development of Public Charities and Correction,
1790-1915,
1916;
Survey of the Mentally Diseased and
Defective in Indiana , for the National Committee for Mental
Hygiene,
1917 (1
vol.)
Box 5
Correspondence, 1917-1922
(20 folders)
Box 6
Correspondence, 1922, July-1925, June
(60 folders)
Includes:
- Tributes to Amos William Butler, 1922 (1 folder)
Box 7
Correspondence, 1925, July-1929, July
(27 folders)
Box 8
Correspondence, 1929, Aug.-1937
(27 folders)
Includes:
-
Proceedings at Conference of Committee on
Observance and Enforcement of Law,
Apr. 26, 1930
-
Indiana Committee on Observance and
Enforcement of Law. Conference,
July 26, 1930
-
Report of the Advisory Committee on Penal
Institutions, Probation and Parole,
1931
- Balance sheet, treasurer's report, and auditor's certificate
for Hanover College, Apr.-May 1932
Box 9
Charities
(4 folders)
Charities and corrections
(4 folders)
Photographs
Amos William Butler
Miscellaneous
(2 folders)
Miscellaneous
Brookville, Indiana - History
Florida
Indiana Academy of Science
Mexico
Miscellaneous
Scientific Papers
Box 10
Prisons
(4 folders)
Clippings, 1885-1934
(18 folders)
Box 11
Clippings, 1935-1937
(4 folders)
Printed
Indiana Board of Charities and State Board of Control
Charities and Corrections, Miscellaneous
Child welfare. Eugenics
Drug addiction
Mental defectives
Mental hygiene societies
Poor relief in Indiana
Psychiatry and the courts
Statistics, surveys, and reports on prisons
Senate and House bills
Rules and forms pertaining to penal institutions
Prison forms
Probation material
Prison associations
Miscellaneous. Prison material
Box 12
Printed
Irvington Presbyterian Church
Scientific societies
Universities
Miscellaneous
Oversize 1
Scrapbook, 1907-1908
Oversize 2
Scrapbook, 1910
Oversize 3
Scrapbook, 1910
Oversize 4
Scrapbook, 1922
Oversize 5
Scrapbook, 1923-1927
Oversize 6
Miscellaneous
Includes:
- Bird sighting charts, 1895;
prisoners' bill of fare, Indiana State Prison, Aug. 6 and 13, 1904; roll of the House of
Representatives, Mar. 4 and 5, 1921;
"Reception Committee," listed by
Indiana county, undated
