The ingoing and outgoing correspondence in this series relates primarily to Philip Butcher's academic career. Correspondents, many of whom were Butchers' mentors, colleagues and students, include Arna Bontemps, Lionel Trilling, and James Alan McPherson among others. Writing projects, conference proposals, research queries and other academic interests are the topics of most letters. A few brief manuscripts can be found within the correspondence.
Box 1 Folder 1
Catalogued Correspondence--Arna Bontemps, 1948-1973
Box 1 Folder 2
Catalogued Correspondence--Braithwaite-West, 1940-1982
Box 1 Folder 3
Edgar Creek, 1943-1996
Box 1 Folder 4
Thomas Cripps, 1970-1987
Box 1 Folder 5
Ralph Ellison, 1954-1997
Box 1 Folder 6
Shelley Fisher Fishkin, 1985-1997
Box 1 Folder 7
David Levering Lewis, 1993
Box 1 Folder 8
James Alan McPherson, 1971-1984, Undated, 1971-1984, Undated
Box 1 Folder 9
William Rhoden, 1997
Box 1 Folder 10
Roy Simmonds, 1984-1996
Box 1 Folder 11
Publishing Correspondence, 1948-1971
Box 1 Folder 12 to 13
General Correspondence, 1943-1989, (2 Folders)
Included here is an array of material, both personal and professional. Clippings, bulletins, conference proceedings, committee work, funding applications, photographs, and autographed articles written by Philip Butcher's former students and colleagues at Morgan State University are here. Also included are programs, playbills, and photographs of James Butcher's professional activities at Howard University. A smattering of correspondence can be found within the subject files.
Box 2 Folder 1
Afro-American Literature, 1928-1969
Box 2 Folder 2
William H. Beardsley, 1987-1988
Box 2 Folder 3
Arna Bontemps, 1943-1967
Box 2 Folder 4
William S. Braithwaite, 1928-1970
Box 2 Folder 5
Sterling Brown, 1947-1990
Box 14
Sterling Brown--Phonograph Record, Undated
James Butcher
Box 2 Folder 6
Biographical Info, 1942-1996
Box 14 Folder 1
Howard University Players, 1937, undated, 1937, undated
Box 16
Howard University and Spelman College--Video Tapes and Film, 1965-1966, 1981, 1996, Undated, 1965-1966, 1981, 1996, Undated
Box 2 Folder 7
Howard University--Norway Theatre Workshop, 1949-1950
Box 2 Folder 8
Professorial Career, 1949-1986
Box 2 Folder 9
Plays, 1948-1957
Box 12 Folder 2 to 3
Playbills and Programs, 1935-1983 (2 Folders), 1935-1983
Box 12 Folder 4 to 5
Production Photos, circa 1920s-1960s, 1980s (2 Folders), 1920s-1960s, 1980s
Box 2 Folder 10
General, 1949-1999, Undated, 1949-1999, Undated
Box 2 Folder 11
James Butcher Sr., 1949-1950
Box 2 Folder 12
Margaret Just Butcher, 1947-1957, Undated, 1947-1957, Undated
Box 2 Folder 13
Vada Butcher, 1978-1987
Box 3 Folder 1
Center for Editions of American Authors, 1967-1971
Box 3 Folder 2
Clippings--General, 1951-1984
Box 3 Folder 3
College Language Association, 1956-1986
Box 3 Folder 4
Thomas Cripps, 1988-1989
Box 3 Folder 5
Ossie Davis, 1965
Box 3 Folder 6
Deans of Black Grad Schools, 1975-1992
Box 3 Folder 7
Frederick Douglass, 1967-1992
Box 3 Folder 8
Ralph Ellison, 1942-1976
Box 3 Folder 9
Walter Fisher, 1977-1988
Box 3 Folder 10
Stephen Foreman, undated
Box 3 Folder 11
David Harris, 2005
Box 3 Folder 12
Highlander Folk School, 1953-1961
Box 3 Folder 13
Lincoln Bible, 1864-1933
Box 3 Folder 14
Lincoln and Sheridan Letters, 1864
Box 3 Folder 15
London, 1991
Box 3 Folder 16
MELUS, 1988
Box 13 Folder 8
Kelly Miller Pamphlets, 1900-1917
Modern Language Association, 1974-1982
Box 4 Folder 1
Hubbell Award Committee, 1981-1982
Box 4 Folder 2
Nominating Committee, 1974-1976
Box 4 Folder 3 to 4
Nominating Committee, 1976 (2 Folders), 1976
Morgan State University, 1953-1978
Box 4 Folder 5 to 6
Faculty Pamphlets, 1953-1978 (2 Folders), 1953-1978
Box 4 Folder 7
General, 1958-1961
Box 4 Folder 8
Lucy Moten Fellowship, 1941-1942
Box 4 Folder 9
Negro Writers Conference, 1965
Box 4 Folder 10
The Octoroon
, 1961
Box 4 Folder 11
Permissions--Ethnic Image in Modern America, 1982-1983
Box 4 Folder 12
Printed Materials--Interracial Understanding, 1918-1981
Box 4 Folder 13
Printed Materials--General, 1923-1987
Box 5 Folder 1
Research--Louisiana, 1948-1987
Box 5 Folder 2
Research--The Race Problem, 1918-1980
Box 5 Folder 3
R.S. Simmonds, 1985-1990
Box 5 Folder 4
Southern Negro Youth Conference Bulletin--Autographed, 1937
Box 5 Folder 5
Students, Former--Published Articles, 1986, Undated, 1986, Undated
Box 5 Folder 6
Arlin Turner, 1948-1978
Box 5 Folder 7
Darwin Turner, 1958-1976
Box 5 Folder 8
Mark Twain, 1935-1991
Box 5 Folder 9
University of Iowa--Robert Corrigan, 1969-1970
Box 5 Folder 10
Carl Waltz, 1958-1966
Box 5 Folder 11
World Literature Today
, 1973-1985
Box 5 Folder 12
Richard Wright, 1941-1968
William Stanley Braithwaite, George Washington Cable and Thomas Walker--three of Butcher's longstanding research interests--are the primary focus of this series. Materials include notes, clippings, correspondence, photographs and ephemera related to his research.
William Stanley Braithwaite
Box 6 Folder 1
Correspondence--Edward Starr, 1969-1970
Box 6 Folder 2
Correspondence--Research, 1964-1977
Box 6 Folder 3
Correspondence--Library, 1964-1971
Box 6 Folder 4
Correspondence--Permissions, 1971-1972
Box 6 Folder 5
Research Files, 1938-1981
George Washington Cable--Correspondence
Box 6 Folder 6 to 7
Publishing, 1958-1974 (2 Folders), 1958-1974
Box 7 Folder 1
Anna Gertrude Brewster, 1943-1972
Box 7 Folder 2
Brewster Diary, 1893-1897
Box 7 Folder 3
Alma Edwards, 1949-1967
Box 7 Folder 4 to 8
Adelene Moffat and Family, 1896-1997, (5 Folders)
Box 14 Folder 2
Adelene Moffat--Portrait, circa, 1900
Box 7 Folder 9
Letters to the Editor, 1965-1981
Box 7 Folder 10
Research Inquiries, 1947-1963
Box 8 Folder 1 to 2
Research Inquiries, 1944-1964 (2 Folders), 1944-1964
Box 8 Folder 3
College Libraries, 1948-1969
Box 8 Folder 4
Public Libraries, 1959-1971
George Washington Cable--Research
Box 8 Folder 5
Cable Family, 1945-1968
Box 8 Folder 6
Williams and Franklin, 1946-1949
Box 8 Folder 7
Notes, 1960
Box 8 Folder 8 to 9
General, 1884-1967 (2 Folders), 1884-1967
Box 9 Folder 1 to 2
General, 1902-1978 (2 Folders), 1902-1978
Box 9 Folder 3
Notes, undated
Box 9 Folder 4
Northampton, 1908-1960
Box 9 Folder 5
Northampton Correspondence, 1949-1962
Box 9 Folder 6
Cable Speech, 1962
Box 13 Folder 9
Cable Publications, 1941-1971
Walker Family
Box 9 Folder 7 to 8
Thomas Walker Correspondence, 1895-1932 (2 Folders), 1895-1932
Box 10 Folder 1
Thomas Walker Photo, 1951, undated, 1951, undated
Box 10 Folder 2
Walker Receipts, 1885-1899
Box 10 Folder 3
Annie Walker, 1948-1992
Box 10 Folder 4
Fannette Walker Penn, 1906-1924
Box 14 Folder 3
Walker Ephemera, Undated
Box 14 Folder 4
Walker Photographs, Undated
Box 10 Folder 5
Walker Memorials, 1935-1936
Box 10 Folder 6
Frederick Douglass, 1891-1945
Box 10 Folder 7
General Research, 1883-1995
Other Subjects
Mark Twain and Warner Thornton McGuinn
Box 10 Folder 8
Correspondence, 1963-1969
Box 10 Folder 9
Research, 1912-1968
Box 10 Folder 10
Twain Article Controversy, 1985
Box 10 Folder 11 to 12
Sterling Brown, 1940-1969 (2 Folders), 1940-1969
General Research
Box 15 Folder 1
Articles, 1947-1973
Box 15 Folder 2 to 4
Books--Annotated, 1885, 1927, 1950-1969, 1885, 1927, 1950-1969, (3 Folders)
Box 16
Books, 1941, 1956, 1941, 1956
Box 15 Folder 5
"George Washington Cable: Early Realist of Negro Life"--Dissertation, M.A.,, 1947
The bulk of this series concerns Philip and James Butcher's service in the US Army during World War II. A typescript copy of Philip's extensive World War II journal is here. The material created or gathered by James Butcher includes a journal, notes and photographs of a trip from Monrovia to Dunbar Farms in the interior of Liberia; and a lifeboat log kept by H. E. Sorenson, Master of merchant vesselCape Decision,which was torpedoed early in 1943 enroute from Charleston, SC to Dakar. James was on theCape Decision,when it was hit and spent ten days, journeying 900 miles to safety, with Sorenson. This series also contains US Army service handbooks and bulletins, Fort Huachuca publications and ephemera related to the variety of entertainment provided by the Special Services Division.
Also included here are a few of Philip Butcher's projects and proposals.