Howard Russell Butler (1856-1934) was a businessman, lawyer, and landscape painter from New York, NY. Butler was actively involved in many art associations, including founding the American Fine Arts Society. He was a National Academician of the National Academy of Design, and a member of the Architectural League and the Society of American Artists.
The collection is arranged as 13 series.
The papers of Howard Russell Butler measure 3.0 linear feet on 7 microfilm reels and date from 1874 to 1936. The collection includes writings, journals, organizational papers, correspondence, biographical information, printed matter, art works, and diaries.
Correspondence includes about 1700 letters concerning Butler's artwork, his interest in astronomy, support for the League of Nations and the World Court, his investigation of the Lincoln statue controversy, his management of the Andrew Carnegie house and property, and extensive correspondence about the various activities of the National Academy of Design and the American Fine Arts Society.
Also included are letters from Howard Russell Butler to family and friends, written from Princeton University, Cuba, Mexico, California, Colorado, and Europe; five diaries, 1876-1877; one drawing; and two oil sketches after a painting by Titian. It also includes a book of Butler's works, Howard Russell Butler, including an appreciation by F. Newlin Price, and an unpublished autobiography written from a journal kept by Butler.
This collection is open for research. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Donated and lent 1970-1975 by H. Russell Butler, Jr., Butler's son.
The Archives of American Art holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reels 89 and 93. Loaned materials were returned to the donor after microfilming.
35mm microfilm reels 89, 93, 347-349, and 1189-1190 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Includes a genealogy and career biography prepared by Butler.
This series consists of about 500 items, including correspondence and exhibition material relating to Butler's art sales and exhibitions.
Correspondence is primarily from buyers of Butler's paintings, discussing prices, alterations, shipping and exhibition. Correspondents include James Bertram, writing for Andrew Carnegie, George H. Smillie, Harrison S. Morris, John Frederick Lewis, Corcoran Galleries, Robert de Forest, R.C. and N.M. Vose Galleries, Boston, and Kanst Art Gallery, Los Angeles.
Letters and clippings emanating from Butler winning the Carnegie Prize, 1916, for his painting
Include pictures exhibited by Butler at the Century Club, 1921; unidentified exhibit layouts, jury lists, and price lists of Butler paintings; and catalogs dating from 1907 to 1918.
This series includes records relating to the American Fine Arts Society, for which Butler was president and founding member, and the National Academy of Design (NAD).
Includes about 300 items concerning the function of NAD, negotiation for various NAD sites, relations with the Architectural League, reconstruction of the Fine Arts Society building following a fire in 1920, NAD elections, and cooperation with the American Society of Landscape Architects in restoring the Augustus St. Gaudens homestead and studio as an historic site. Also included is a correspondence with James Carroll Beckwith, George H. Smillie, H. W. Watrous, and Charles Lamb, concerning the creation of two separate exhibiting societies, with supporting articles and newspaper reports. Other correspondents include Cass Gilbert, President of NAD, Robert W. De Forest, and Edwin Howland Blashfield.
Includes drafts of Butler's letters to the New York Times and other New York newspapers.
Includes correspondence from NAD Treasurer Francis Coates Jones, Corresponding Secretary Charles C. Curran, and other Academy officials.
Includes correspondence from Charles C. Curran, Daniel C. French, and others, concerning the transfer of stock from American Fine Arts Society to National Academy of Design.
Includes a Cass Gilbert sketch, 1925; blueprints submitted by the Architectural League, 1928; and proposals, memoranda, and resolutions.
Includes nomination lists and election tallies; correspondence and regulations on building safety; prize rules; and other material concerning miscellaneous administrative functions.
Includes an address by Butler detailing the history of the Lenox Library Plan for acquiring an Academy site.
Address presented to the National Academy of Design.
Tentatively identified as a speech at an Architectural League dinner.
Contains one page of an incomplete draft.
Includes clippings and miscellaneous printed matter relating to National Academy of Design.
This series includes material concerning Butler's astronomical studies and paintings.
Includes about 250 items concerning Butler's astronomical observations and paintings of astronomical events. Correspondents include John A. Miller, Joseph Raymond Swain, Jakop Kimz, Frderick Socub, N. E. Wheeler, George E. Hale, John Q. Stuart, and representatives of Mount Wilson Observatory.
Correspondence includes topics relating to arranging for station watches and observation of eclipses. Correspondents include Edward Adams, W. H. McFetridge, Leander McCormick Observatory, University of Virginia, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.
Includes correspondence with Henry F. Osborn, American Museum of Natural History president, and Butler's critique of plans, articles, and blueprints.
Prepared for publication in the Amateur Astronomer.
Includes two address drafts, with notes.
Typescript draft varying considerably from "Painting the solar eclipse of 1918," apparently prepared as an address.
Includes two drafts.
Includes material relating to an exhibition of Butler's eclipse paintings at the Littlecote Galleries, Utica, New York.
Clippings concerning astronomical events and Butler's eclipse paintings.
Contains Butler's pencil studies of Mars and the Moon
In November 1918, John A. Stewart, Chairman of the American Peace Centenary Committee, notified the British government that the committee charged with selecting a statue of Lincoln as a gift to the citizens of Great Britain had selected one done by George Gray Barnard. Prompted by the protests of Robert Todd Lincoln, Howard Russell Butler investigated and learned that the committee had not ratified this choice but had preferred a statue done by Augustus St. Gaudens. This series contains material detailing the public debate that followed and reflects various attitudes toward public monuments.
Correspondence includes about 100 items relating to Butler's investigations concerning the Abraham Lincoln statue gift. Principal correspondents include Robert Todd Lincoln, F. Wellington Ruckstull, Nicholas Murray Butler, James B. Townsend, Lawrence F. Abbott, Charles W. Eliot, Frederick R. Coudert, Henry S. Haskell, Robert W. De Forest, and Alfred Mond, British First Commissioner of Works. Also included are copies of letters to Butler, or associates, from John A. Stewart and Arthur James Balfour, and drafts of Butler's letters to colleagues and newspapers supporting the Augustus St. Gaudens statue.
Includes replies to letters Butler sent soliciting the opinions of members of the Committee on their statue preference, with Butler's tabulation of the replies.
Includes a National Academy of Design resolution, April 1918, with a discussion by Butler; Fine Arts Federation of New York resolution, April 25, 1918; American Federation of Arts resolution prepared by Butler, with a transcript of the discussion; and a paper, "Argument to prove the lack of authority on the part of the Subcommittee of the American Peace Centenary Committee...," including a chronology of events and discussion.
Includes references to the affairs of the Music Hall Company.
This series includes correspondence and editorial material relating to
Correspondence includes letters from Scribner and J.W. Chapin, Art Editor, concerning costs, proof corrections, and illustrations; contract; and letters from readers. Also included are advertisements, and other distribution material, and notes and articles gathered by Butler on color systems.
Includes an undated essay by Butler.
This series contains correspondence, essays, letters, and miscellaneous material concering Butler's professional and political life outside of the art world.
Includes correspondence, essays, poems, articles, and miscellany relating to American participation in World War I and the American Security League.
Includes correspondence and Butler's essays and articles supporting the United States' entry into the League of Nations. These include "The Covenant Gutted," "Synopsis of the Covenant of the League of Nations, with comments," and a letter to the editor of the New York Times.
Includes letters to United State Senators from Butler as Chairman of the Peace Awards Committee, Princeton Chamber of Commerce, supporting the United States Participation in the World Court.
Includes a report on the estate of Henry W. Ranger, July 3, 1917; notes on Theodore Roosevelt's address before the Nobel Prize Committee, May 5, 1910; prospectus for a project for improving the Princeton Inn; and other printed material.
Consists of
Includes an unpublished autobiography written from a journal kept by Butler. In it Butler records travel impressions in Canada and the U.S. Northwest, Mexico, and Cuba; experiences as agent and executive in the telegraph business; thoughts on acquaintances as an art student in Paris, and artist in New York, including memories of William A. Coffin, Kenyon Cox, George de Forrest Brush, and others; work as founder of the American Fine Arts Society, which introduced him to George Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie; and his 10-year association with Carnegie, including various business dealings.
Includes letters written by Butler to family and friends from Princeton University, Cuba, Mexico, California, Colorado, and Europe.
Includes five diaries dating from 1876 to 1877.
Includes one drawing and two oil sketches after a painting by Titian.