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Center for Lowell History Collections

A list of collections with links to finding aid, inventories and websites that give collection content

Butler, (Benjamin Franklin) Collection (1818-1893)

Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818-1893)
Butler was born in Deerfield, NH, and moved to Lowell with his widowed mother, sister, and brother in 1828. Butler attended Lowell High School and Colby College and in 1840 began a successful law practice in Lowell. Active in the Democratic Party in the 1850s, he was elected to several terms in the Massachusetts Legislature. In 1860, convinced that war was eminent, Butler organized a volunteer regiment and in April 1861 was the first to respond to President Lincoln’s call for troops at the outbreak of the Civil War. After the Civil War, Butler was elected as a Radical Republican to four terms of Congress (1867-1875) and was appointed by Congress as one of the managers to conduct the 1868 impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1882, he was an unsuccessful candidate for President of the United States in 1884. Butler died in 1893 while visiting Washington, DC. Always controversial, Butler spent much of his life living and working in Lowell.

Benjamin F. Butler Collection
The University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for Lowell History houses extensive Butler Family Collections owned by UMass Lowell and the Lowell Historical Society which include correspondence, speeches, publications, and photographs, as well as a large series of lively and colorful political cartoons and prints published in the country’s most popular nineteenth century magazines, including Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, Harper’s Weekly, The Judge, and Puck.

A Mass Humanities Grant funded digitization of selections from the Center for Lowell History's Butler holdings as well as conservation supplies, a Mogan Center Exhibit, and Exhibit Brochure.

Many of these Political Cartoons can be viewed below:

 

BC 002 Comic Monthly
Old Grannies of England Shocked at
Butler's Proclamation

BC 010 Daily Graphic
American Presidential Election
October 25, 1884

   
BC 011 Daily Graphic
Benjamin F. Butler
January 21, 1893
BC 012 Every Saturday
Candidates for the Governorship
of Massachusetts
September 30, 1871
   
BC 014 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
One of General Butler's "Contraband of War"
Now in Fortress Monroe
June 22, 1861
BC 015 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Encampment of Massachusetts Troops
on Federal Hill, near Baltimore
1861
   
BC 016 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Major General Benjamin F. Butler,
Massachusetts
1861
BC 019 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
The War in Virginia -
Butler's Lines South of the James
July 02, 1864
   
BC 020 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Signal Station Near Point of Rocks,
Shelled and Struck by the Rebels
While General Butler Was There
July 16, 1864
BC 022 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
A Dove of Peace
July 16, 1864
   
BC 023 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Great Lecture on the Science of War
December 30, 1865
BC 025 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
An Aquatic meeting
July 27, 1867
    
BC 026 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
House Committee, Elected to Manage
the Impeachment of The President,
Entering the Senate Chamber
March 21, 1868
BC 028 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Managers of Impeachment
April 11, 1868
   
BC 029 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Benjamin Butler's Grand opening Effort
at the Impeachment Trial
April 18, 1868
BC 030 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Home Incidents, Accidents, etc.
April 18, 1868
   
BC 031 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Et tu Brute
April 18, 1868
BC 033 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Home Incidents, Accidents, etc.
April 25, 1868
   
BC 034 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Great Reconciliation
May 2, 1868
BC 035 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Singular Effects of Shadows on the nerves
of the Champions of Massachusetts
June 13, 1868
   
BC 036 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Torture Room of the Modern Inquisition
June 20, 1868
BC 037 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Grand Fizzle
June 27, 1868
    
BC 038 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Cabinet Making - The Boss and
the Journeyman
December 5, 1868
BC 039 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Brother Ben in his New Role of
"Peace Maker" Between the
Incoming and the Outgoing Man
January 23, 1869
   
BC 040 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Senate Bearded I' The Capitol
February 27, 1869
BC 041 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Collar of Office
April 24, 1869
   
BC 043 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Connecticut - The Celebration
of Independence Day at Woodstock
July 23, 1870
BC 044 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Fishery Question - The Great Whale that
Swallowed up the Profit
December 24, 1870
   
BC 045 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Getting Out of a Scrape -
And a Window
April 15, 1871
BC 047 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Resurrectionists at Work
April 20, 1872
BC 048 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
How Much They Like Him
April 27, 1872
BC 049 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Our Modern Brutus.
May 04, 1872
    
BC 050 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Our Modern Brutus - detail
May 04, 1872
BC 051 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Our National Trustee Calls
His Steward to an Account
May 11, 1872
   
BC 052 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Funeral at Cincinnati May 3rd, 1872
May 18, 1872
BC 053 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Our King Canute and the Rising tide
June 29, 1872
   
BC 054 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Last Shot
July 27, 1872
BC 056 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Grant's Collection of Monstrosities
February 07, 1874
   
BC 057 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Heavy Weights
February 07, 1874
BC 058 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Last Straw on the Camel's Back
February 21, 1874

Butler Images 5

BC 059 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Butler's Victory
March 14, 1874
BC 061 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Remonstrance From Massachusetts
March 21, 1874
    
BC 062 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Unbottling Butler
March 21, 1874
BC 064 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Squeezing the Merchants
March 28, 1874
   
BC 065 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Sumner's Shoes. Uncle Sam
"Which of you is worthy to fill them?"
April 4, 1874
BC 066 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Great American Crocodile
April 4, 1874
   
BC 067 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Born Negotiator
September 5, 1874
BC 069 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
October Wake
October 31, 1874
   
BC 070 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Triumph of the Young Elephants
November 7, 1874
BC 071 Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Babes in the Wood-1874
November 21, 1874