The Butler Papers are organized in three groups: Correspondence, Articles and Sermons, and Notebooks and Diaries.
CORRESPONDENCE: The two boxes of correspondence cover the years 1776-1901, the material up to 1844 being the papers of his father, James Butler, Sr., a merchant of Rutland, Vermont. Included are drafts, receipts, notes, inventories of stock in the general store, accounts of estates administered, and a few letters to his children and to merchants. After 1844 there is a gap in the material until the seventies, and from then on material pertains largely to five general subjects.
Indian antiquities . There are a number of letters relating to Indian history, relics, and mounds, and particularly concerning the collection of copper implements for the Wisconsin Historical Society's museum. There are replies to inquiries which Butler made, and some correspondence relating to the large and valuable collection of copper specimens belonging to Fred S. Perkins, including a catalog of the collection in 1885. There are a number of rough drawings and illustrations of copper implements and relics, and some correspondence with Horace Rublee in Berne, Switzerland and with European antiquarian societies.
Indian linquistics . There are some letters relating to the subject of Indian sign language, Indian word etymology, and Indian vocabularies.
History, identification, and description of portraits of Columbus is the subject of a group of letters grouped around the years 1882-1883.
A fourth group deals with genealogical matters , particularly the genealogy of the Butler family and early Wisconsin families.
Miscellany . Scattered letters relate to the purchase of rare books, to numismatics, the stockade at Rice Lake, and personal matters. There is some data in a questionnaire answered by George W. Jones on the route of retreat of Blackhawk's forces in 1832. A twelve-page letter (February 28, 1886) of James Stevenson gives personal recollections of his acquaintanceship and travels with James Bridger. Other correspondents include S. F. Haven, Bela Hubbard, and Charles P. Daly (the latter has only two letters).
ARTICLES AND SERMONS: These cover a wide range of subjects. Most of the manuscripts are articles. When he came to Madison, popular lectures were much in vogue, and it was probably for public occasions that many of the articles were written. The variety of subjects may be indicated by a sampling of titles: “Rambling among the Ruins of Rome,” “Our Composite Nationality,” “Characteristics of a College,” “The Alps,” “Legendary Lore,” “Vocabulary of Shakespeare,” “Aesthetic Culture,” “Fourth of July Gratiot,” “Soldiers' Duty,” and “Prehistoric Wisconsin.”
NOTEBOOKS AND DIARIES: It was Butler's habit all his life to keep notebooks and diaries chronicling the events of the year. Some of the volumes date from college days and contain class lecture notes. Others have to do with the genealogy of the Wetherbee family, material for Rutland history, and sermon notes. He tells in other notebooks of his travels, of his European trip of 1842-1843, his trip to Florida and Cuba, 1887, and his trip around the world, 1890-1891. There is a boarding house account book for his first years in Madison, a manuscript volume entitled Hinde's Commonplace Book, dated 1706, and presented to Butler in 1882. Of his own making is the huge Index Rerum, a commonplace book begun in 1836 while a college senior and kept to the end of his life. In it Butler entered quotations from books, brief notes summarizing such works, his own ideas, thoughts, facts, and impressions resulting from conversations with people, etc. There is also a book of witticisms. A daybook, 1796, which apparently belonged to his father, is in the collection. Two volumes of Butler family genealogy are also in the collection.
