Library: Archives & Special Collections: Edward H. Butler Family Papers [1880-1956]

Descriptive Summary

Title: The Edward H. Butler Family Papers Collection

Date Span: 1880-1956

Acquisition Number: N/A

Creator: E. H. Butler Senior; Mrs. E. H. Butler Senior; E. H. Butler, Jr.; Kate Robinson Bulter; Buffalo Evening News

Donor: Kate Butler (Wallis Wickham), 1976, 1977; Buffalo Evening News, 1985; Buffalo Evening News, 1987

Date of Acquisition: 1977; 1985; 1987

Extent: 250 linear ft.

Language: English

Location: Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State

Processed: Sister Martin Joseph Jones, 1987-1991; original processing notes, finding aids, and inventories are available within the Archives & Special Collections Department upon request; Hope Dunbar, inventory digitized for online use, 2018

Information on Use

Access:

The Edward H. Butler Family Paper Collection is open for research. Due to the size and nature of the collection, inventories of material are made available only within the Archives & Special Collections Department. Please contact an Archivist for specific materials or subjects.

Reproduction of Materials:

See Archivist for information on reproducing materials from this collection, including photocopies, digital camera images, or digital scans, as well as copyright restrictions that may pertain to these materials.

Even though all reasonable and customary best-practices have been pursued, this collection may contain materials with confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the SUNY Buffalo State assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation:

[Description and dates], Box/folder number, Edward H. Butler Family Papers Collection [1880-1956], Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State.

Biographical Note:

The Edward H. Butler Family played a prominent role in the development of the Niagara Frontier for nearly 100 years (1880 - 1976). Edward H. Butler, Senior published the first edition of the Buffalo Evening News on October 11, 1880. Upon his death in 1914, his son, Edward, assumed the role of editor and publisher of the paper. At his death in 1956, his widow, Kate Robinson Butler ran the paper. Shortly after her death in 1975, the paper was sold to Blue Chips Stamps.

Buffalo State College has enjoyed a long relationship with the Butler family. Three generations of members of the Butler Family served as Presidents of the College Council. E. H. Butler Library was named after Edward H. Butler, Senior.

Kate Butler Wickham, daughter of Edward H. Butler, Junior donated her mother's personal correspondence to the library in 1977. In 1976, she donated all correspondence of her grandfather and father covering the period 1880-1956. In 1985, the Buffalo News donated all business correspondence of the Butler Senior and Junior connected to the Buffalo Evening News. In 1987, The Buffalo News donated the "Kirchhofer Papers". Kirchhofer, editor of the News, was in the process of writing a history of the paper when he died suddenly. His research materials and the papers he had taken from the Butler family files (1880-1976) were kept together as a collection.

Scope and Contents:

Collection includes personal correspondence; photographs; business records; financial statements; business files and personnel for the Buffalo Evening News; editorials; news clippings, and some miscellaneous ephemera.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four sections. Please see specific sections of the inventory
for more in-depth information on subgroups and individual foldering.

Letters from Grover Cleveland

In 1996 the Buffalo News donated 10 letters written by Grover Cleveland to Edward H. Butler, Sr. to the E. H. Butler Library Archives. These letters are personal commentaries on problems of the day. The letter reproduced here traces Cleveland's concern about a scandal involving him on his chances for nomination as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States (a local newspaper had published a story accusing Cleveland of fathering an illegitimate child).

My dear Sir:

I was much pleased with your letter.

I have felt very much outraged by this infamous scandal and under advice have kept quiet though it has been hard to resist the inclination to speak.

One thing surprises me. How on earth could a boy with no friends but his industry reach the place at the bar, among the people, be begged to accept the nomination for mayor, be elected by an immense majority regardless of party, perform the duties well, be nominated and elected governor, receive the plaudits of all the good men of the State, and in all these things, work hard, and yet be a drunken debaucher? Some things are too ridiculous for belief; and it did seem to me that this was one of them. I see somewhere printed, a letter in which the editor of the Telegraph is called "a Christian gentleman." I should think that would make any Buffalo man laugh.

I shall write as you suggested to Mr. Jones. A friend such as he has proved himself to be should be fully appreciated.

I am always glad to hear from you.

Yours Sincerely,

/s/ Grover Cleveland

Archives & Special Collections: Edward H. Butler Family Papers [1880-1956]

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Letters from Grover Cleveland

Downloadable Finding-Aid

SUNY Buffalo State Oral History Project

Letters Between E. H. Butler and Grover Cleveland