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Butler-Coulter Family Letters

 Collection
Identifier: MC 1086

Scope and Content Note

137 original letters and two bound volumes of photocopied typed transcripts pertaining to the Butler-Coulter families of southern Arkansas.

The collection consists of letters and fragments exchanged by Henry Alexander Butler (1836-1907) and Mary "Mollie" Elizabeth Coulter Butler (1843-1897) of Dallas and Sevier Counties, Arkansas, along with those from relatives and friends at various points in Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, California, and South America. The collection includes 51 letters written between January 7, 1861 and January 16, 1865 from Henry at various points in Virginia; Mollie Coulter at Evergreen, Arkansas; and W.H. Foster, a friend at Mountain, Tennessee. Many of Henry's wartime letters describe camp conditions and military movements, although most are devoted to family news and courtship. The postwar letters include those from Mollie's father, David Reddock Coulter, written from New Orleans during the first two years of Reconstruction and from Brazil where he visited with his son George in the early 1870s. All of the letters have been encapsulated, numbered, and arranged in chronological order. Two bound typescripts of the originals along with genealogical data on the Butler-Coulter families prepared by Ann Braswell in June 1988 are also included.Some of the correspondents represented in this collection, such as Henry and Mollie Butler, are authors of additional letters found in the Butler-Paisley Family Papers, a separate manuscript collection held by the department. Most of the Butler-Paisley letters have been published by Elizabeth Paisley Huckaby and Ethel C. Simpson in Tulip Evermore: Emma Butler and William Paisley, Their Lives and Letters, 1857-1887 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1985).

Dates

  • 1856-1897

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

No Use Restrictions Apply.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

The Butlers were a prominent family of Tulip, Arkansas, where father Alexander Butler (1807-1881) ran a mercantile operation assisted by his eldest son Henry. When the Civil War broke out, Henry and three of his brothers enlisted in the Third Arkansas Infantry, the only Confederate regiment from the state to serve entirely in the eastern theater of the war. Henry eventually achieved the rank of Major and served as Adjutant General to Brigadier General John Rogers Cooke. After the war Henry married Mollie Coulter and the couple lived in Union County, Tulip, and Malvern, Arkansas where Henry engaged in agriculture and trading.

Extent

1.75 Linear Feet (139 items in 2 boxes)

Acquisition Information

The Butler-Coulter Family Letters were donated to Special Collections by Mary Elizabeth Bramlitt Braswell of Houston, Texas, on December 17, 1990.

Related Materials

Records relating to the Butler-Coulter Family Letters include:

Butler-Paisley Photograph Albums MC 632 1829-1890s Includes photographs of the principal correspondents of the Butler-Coulter Family Letters.



Butler-Paisley Family Papers MC 514 1829-1890s

Jonathan K. T. Smith Map MC 633 ca 1977

MC 1086a Butler-Coulter Family Photographs ca 1870-1987

General

Includes photographs of the principal correspondents of the Butler-Coulter Family Letters.

Processing Information

Processed by Kim Allen Scott, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in January, 1991.

Creator

Source

Title
Butler-Coulter Family Letters
Status
Completed
Author
Kim Allen Scott
Date
January 1991
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Department Repository

Contact:
University of Arkansas Libraries
365 N. McIlroy Avenue
Fayetteville AR 72701 United States
(479) 575-8444