George P. Butler & Brother records
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The collection holds the records from the early twentieth century brokerage firm George P. Butler & Brother, particularly for its later years from 1906 until its dissolution in 1911. The collection holds correspondence, client statements, transaction blotters, ledgers, journals, and cancelled checks.
Biographical / Historical
George Prentiss Butler was born February 13, 1863, in New York City, the son of Mary Marshall Butler and William Allen Butler. He graduated from Princeton University in 1884 and married Ellen Mudge of Yonkers in 1886, where they continued to reside. In 1898, Butler and his brother Arthur W. Butler formed a brokerage firm in New York, George P. Butler & Brother, dealing in bonds and stocks. Both brothers were members of the New York Stock Exchange and the firm was said to be associated with Gould family interests. The firm was located at 35 Wall Street.
George died suddenly in London at age 48 on April 7, 1911. His obituary in the New York Times states that he had traveled to Europe for health reasons. Records in the collection indicate that the firm was already undergoing liquidation by March 1911, before George's death. Arthur completed the firm's liquidation in July 1911. After the firm's dissolution, Arthur joined E. Hicks Herrick and Henry S. Kip to form the new partnership of Butler, Herrick and Kip.
(Source: New York Times articles)
Arrangement
The collection is organized in two series:
Series I. Correspondence (1906-1911)
Series II. Financial Records (1905-1911)
Scope and Contents
The collection includes fragmentary records from the financial firm George P. Butler & Brother. The firm existed from 1898 to 1911; the records date primarily from the later years of the firm, that is 1906-1911, though there are gaps even within that range. Nonetheless, the firm's clients, trading activity, and transactions as market intermediaries are well-represented in the records. These records include incoming and outgoing correspondence, perhaps especially for 1909, but touching at least in part on all years from 1906-11. In addition to transaction executions, some letters include investment advice and outlook for particular securities, many of which are railroad companies. The container list identifies the more frequent correspondents. Accounting records in the collection include copies of client statements, transaction blotters, ledgers, journals, and cancelled checks/vouchers. Many of these records document the receipt of dividends and interest from railroads and other companies, and the distribution of those payments to the firm's clients.
Subjects
Genres
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Use Restrictions
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: George P. Butler & Brother records, MS 93, New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Arthur W. Butler, October 1950
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processed by archivist Larry Weimer in December 2020.
Repository
Series I. Correspondence, 1906-1911, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
The series includes correspondence between the George P. Butler & Brother firm and its clients and client representatives, such as banks, attorneys, and other investment firms. Most of the letters are outgoing from the firm, either in the form of carbon copies or in sheets in three copybooks. Nonetheless, foldered correspondence also holds many incoming letters and telegrams.
Incoming correspondence generally includes client inquiries or transaction orders. Outgoing correspondence often includes order confirmations and transmittals of payments of interest, dividends and other proceeds, and of stock and bond certificates. Although most of the correspondence is transactional, a number of letters convey information about securities available, and advice about whether or not to acquire particular securities. Bonds and stocks issued by railroads appear to comprise most of the securities referenced in the letters (including, among others, the Manhattan Railway Company), but utility companies also appear.
The bulk of the foldered incoming and outgoing letters are from 1909, with a very few ranging back to 1908 or forward to early 1910. The three copybooks range from mid-1906 to early 1911, but have large gaps in coverage.
The copybooks have indexes of correspondents at the front of the volumes. These, and the correspondence generally, were skimmed by the archivist to identify any especially prominent correspondents, such as a Rockefeller or a J.P. Morgan, but none appeared. The more frequent individual correspondents, some of which are women handling financial matters, are noted in the container list.
Arrangement
The series is arranged with foldered correspondence, which includes both incoming and outgoing letters, followed by three volumes of letterpress copies of outgoing letters.
The foldered correspondence was found in slight disorder when processed in 2020. The archivist arranged it into what appears to be, roughly, its original order, that is, foldering together letters with common coding written on them (e.g., M-1, M-2, M-3). These codes clearly follow an alphabetical sequence (M in this example being correspondents with surname or company name beginning with M), but it is not clear what the numeric code indicates, though letters to/from any particular correspondent seem to be grouped together. The correspondence was not arranged to a finer level, such as by date.
Patrons should be cautious in handling the letters as some are held together with pins that were not removed during processing.
Correspondence A, 1908-1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Charles H. Ayers, Edward D. Adams, and George L. Adams.
Correspondence B (2 folders), 1908-1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include James Boyd (and other Boyds) of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Frederick M. Brown of Wallace, Butler & Brown; and various Butlers, including Charles Henry Butler of Washington, DC.
Correspondence C, 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Judge Alfred C. Coxe of Utica, and A.H.R. Carr & Co. of Belfast, Ireland.
Correspondence D, E, F, 1909-1910, inclusive
Correspondence G, 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Max Goebel of J.L. Mott Iron Works (NY); Winthrop B. Greene of Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, and his wife Louise G. Parsons Greene; and Mary S. Gould of New York.
Correspondence H, 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Myron T. Herrick of Ohio; Alfred Huger of Charleston, South Carolina; Sarah L. Hayden of Yonkers; and James F. Hughes of Exeter, New Hampshire. The file also includes a detailed business and product proposal for the Rhode Island Electromobile Company.
Correspondence J, K, L, 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Walter W. Law of Briarcliff Manor, NY.
Correspondence M (2 folders), 1908-1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Margaret C. Munn of Cambridge, Massachusetts; J.H. McClermont of New York; D.A. Mudge of St. Paul, Minnesota; Hannah G. Mynderse of Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Correspondence N, O, 1908-1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Wilbur R. Noxon, and the New York Stock Exchange concerning telephone charges and other facility accommodations.
Correspondence P, 1908-1909, inclusive
Correspondence R, 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include A.M. Reid of J.L. Mott Iron Works
Correspondence S (2 folders), 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include Hugo Schmidt of Deutsche Bank, Berlin, Germany; and William Stanley, writing from Charleston, South Carolina, and Clara Stanley, both of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Several documents relate to the Wisconsin Central Railway Company.
Correspondence T, U, V, 1909, inclusive
Correspondence W, Z, 1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Frequent correspondents include E. Van Dyke Wight of Westminister Presbyterian Church, Middletown, NY; Judge William J. Wallace of Wallace, Butler & Brown (Cazenovia, NY); D.G. Wild of Brooklyn; and Kurt Zander of Berlin, Germany.
Letterpress copybook (266 sheets). July 11, 1906-May 14, 1908, 1906-1908, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sheet 198 has a list of Albany & Susquehanna stockholders.
Letterpress copybook (493 sheets). April 29, 1909-November 23, 1909, 1909, inclusive
Letterpress copybook (497 sheets). June 16, 1910-February 28, 1911, 1910-1911, inclusive
Series II. Financial Records, 1905-1911, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The series includes client statements, transaction ledgers and journals, blotters, and other accounting records that provides information on clients, client activity, securities bought and sold, dividend and interest payments, and other financial business matters.
Arrangement
The series is arranged by type of document.
The "SN" number used in the container list was assigned by N-YHS for access purposes; it has no relation to any original numbering scheme in the records. For those volumes that have an original volume number on their cover, that is included in the title of the item in the container list.
Trial balances. July 31, 1907-April 30, 1910, 1907-1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The volume is embossed as "trial balance #6," but the pages of contents are headed as either "trial balance #8" or "special ledger #4." The balances are as of the end of each month, not daily.
[No labeling or heading. Cash transaction journal?]. July 19, 1909-January 17, 1911, 1909-1911, inclusive
Press copybook of client statements (499 sheets). June 1909-November 1909, 1909, inclusive
Press copybook of client statements (496 sheets). November 1909-May 1910, 1909-1910, inclusive
Press copybook of client statements (488 sheets). April 1910-January 1911, 1910-1911, inclusive
Press copybook of client statements (476 sheets). November 1910-May 1911, 1910-1911, inclusive
Clearinghouse blotter #16. September 1907-February 1911, 1907-1911, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Both this volume and the next have the same date coverage.
Clearinghouse blotter #15. September 1907-February 1911, 1907-1911, inclusive
Trial balance stock ledger. June 30, 1909-March 31, 1910, 1909-1910, inclusive
Trial balance stock ledger. April 30, 1910-January 31, 1911, 1910-1911, inclusive
Journal E. April 1907-March 1909, 1907-1909, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This journal and the next appear to be cash journals (interest, dividends, expenses, etc.) for the general and special ledgers.
Journal F. April 1909-May 1911, 1909-1911, inclusive
Checkbook stubs, 1911 January-April, inclusive
Scope and Contents
No checks remain in the volume, but the stubs for checks 73501-74522, with transaction notations, remain in it.
Blotter to Deliver on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #52. August 1907-July 1908, 1907-1908, inclusive
Blotter to Receive on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #59. June 1909-April 1910, 1909-1910, inclusive
Blotter to Deliver on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #60. June 1909-April 1910, 1909-1910, inclusive
Blotter to Receive on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #61. June 1909-January 1910, 1909-1910, inclusive
Blotter to Deliver on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #62. June 1909-January 1910, 1909-1910, inclusive
Blotter to Receive on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #63. April 1910-April 1911, 1910-1911, inclusive
Blotter to Deliver on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #64. April 1910-April 1911, 1910-1911, inclusive
Blotter to Receive on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #65. January-October 1910, 1910, inclusive
Blotter to Deliver on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. #66. January-October 1910, 1910, inclusive
Index to Ledger #5 and Special Ledger #2, undated
Index to Ledger #7, undated
Index to Ledger #8, undated
Special Ledger #3, 1905-1907, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes index at front. Entries begin with ending balance of December 31, 1905, and end at June 1907.
Stock Ledger #5, 1905-1908, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes index at front. Entries begin with ending balance of December 31, 1905, and end at February 1908.
[Stock] Ledger #6, 1908-1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The volume is embossed to indicate it is a (general) ledger, not a stock ledger. But the nature of the content is the same as the stock ledger above, and carries the chronology forward. Includes index at front.
Ledger #7, 1905-1906, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Entries begin with ending balance of December 31, 1905, and end at December 31, 1906.
Ledger #8. July 1906-December 1908, 1906-1908, inclusive
Vouchers (cancelled checks), 1908-1911, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The checks were only minimally processed by the archivist in 2020 and so most remain tied and wrapped together in original bundles. From the original notations on the wraps, it appears there are many gaps. The date ranges recorded on the bundles are: April-July 1908, December 1908, October 1909, January-April 1910, and January-March 1911. These appear to have been wrapped based on their return as paid by the bank (Fourth National Bank, New York), not on the date of the check. By March 1911, checks were being signed by Arthur W. Butler and were being drawn on an account "in liquidation."
Petty cash slips, 1908-1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The bulk of the slips date from 1909, with a very few back to November 1908 and forward to January 1910. These were not processed or arranged by the archivist in 2020 and so are simply held in random order within two small boxes in record carton 1. Patrons should be cautious in handling these as many are held together with pins that were not removed.