Charles Butler Papers
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Abstract
Charles Butler was born in New York in 1802. He was a lawyer whose endeavors included anti-Masonry, New York politics, western state bond issues and speculation, canal, road and railroad construction, and philanthropy. The papers of Charles Butler span the years 1817 to 1908, and include correspondence, business papers, legal documents, ledger books, pamphlets, and maps.
Historical/Biographical Note
During his lifetime, Charles Butler was involved in many endeavors. For a time he was employed as an agent for the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, and held various positions in the transportation industry working with canals, roads, and railroads. He was also involved in New York politics, anti-Masonry, and state bond investment and land speculation in the antebellum west. One such interest was in the Wabash and Erie Canal, the construction of which Congress authorized in 1827. When completed in 1853, the Wabash and Erie Canal was the longest man-made waterway in the Western Hemisphere and extended nearly 500 miles. By 1860, however, after a short time in use, the canal was incrementally abandoned in response to the proliferation of railroads.
Butler's other accomplishments are outlined in the following chronology
Missing Title
Arrangement
The collection contains correspondence, business papers, legal documents, and pamphlets organized alphabetically by subject.
This collection is arranged in three series:
- I. Correspondence and business papers, legal documents, and pamphlets. Arranged alphabetically by subject
- II. Bound letter books and financial ledgers
- III. Maps
Scope and Content Note
The papers of Charles Butler span the years 1817 to 1908, the bulk of which pertain to the dealings of the American Land Company, and the Wabash and Erie Canal. They include correspondence, business papers, legal documents, ledger books, pamphlets, and maps.
Butler's American Land Company correspondence deals chiefly with property issues along the Mississippi River, public debts in Indiana, and the Wabash and Erie Canal. There is also a small amount of family correspondence and a 1833 letter written to the editor of the Albany Argus regarding travels in the western states.
The business papers include land patents for 1841, stock certificates dated 1847 and 1853, state of Michigan reports and the Governor's message of 1849, a patent signed by the secretary of the State of Wiscons in 1856, and bound letters from J.L. Williams, chief engineer of the Wabash and Erie Canal.
Many business letters are bound into volumes with indexes and prominent correspondents include Henry and Peter Anderson, Walter Goodman and James G. King of Indianapolis. Also included are legal documents which refer to the case of Anderson v. Messinger (a property case in Toledo, Ohio), correspondence, exhibits for trials in 1906 and 1908, briefs for the defendant and plaintiff, and a petition. Other legal documents concern the Wabash and Erie Canal and include letters to law offices and attorneys F.W. Gilley Jr., McDonald and Butler, F.F. Marbury, F.F. Marbury Jr. and others.
The financial ledgers contain bills receivable, bills payable, receipts, disbursements, expenses, balance sheets, and interest rates. There are also scrapbooks of newspaper clippings.
Pamphlets and annual reports span the years 1827-1878, and are primarily concerned with the Wabash and Erie Canal corporation. The maps include state maps of Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio from the 1840s and 50s; a detailed map of Toledo and its vicinity, with details of its streets, ports, and new additions ca. 1850s. There is also a map of an Indian Reservation and an Oak Orchard.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open without restrictions. Some folders in boxes 8 and 17 are currently unavailable. Please consult University Archives staff for more information.
Use Restrictions
Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. Repository is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date (if known); Charles Butler Papers; MC 81; box number; folder number; New York University Archives, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These papers were donated to the New York University Archives by Charles Butler's daughter, Emily Ogden Butler, in 1925.
About this Guide
Processing Information
A portion of the collection was rehoused for preservation purposes in fall 2017.