Orma Fitch Butler Papers, 1913-1938
10.3 linear feet
Most of Orma Butler's records contain correspondence, including many letters with Francis Kelsey between 1919 and 1927. However, only a small portion is arranged alphabetically and grouped as correspondence; numerous letters are scattered in subject files, such as the Dattari Coin Collection, Karanis expedition, Barosso wall paintings, and the De Criscio and De Priscio inscriptions. General correspondence about the museum illustrates its operation from the beginning and reveals an ongoing struggle to secure more funds, more space, and more recognition. Subject files include reports, financial statements, and many inventory lists. In addition to correspondence, the collection contains resource material consisting of articles and illustrations from various periodicals; manuscripts, including one submitted for Miss Butler's Doctoral Thesis; reprints; periodicals; and a large collection of photographs. Miss Butler divided these photographs into two sets: one consisting of several Italian cities and the other of works of art found in various Italian Museums. The latter set was grouped alphabetically, by subject. In arranging this collection, each photograph was assigned an identification number. Subjects are listed on the front of the folder and serve as a key in identifying individual photographs. A number of other papers from the Kelsey records and handwritten reports by Enoch Peterson, Director of the Karanis expeditions for nine years are incorporated into Miss Butler's files. There is a notation in the finding aid beside each file which contains Kelsey material.
The Karanis expedition records consist of handwritten and typed reports, financial records, lists, charts, and correspondence. Multiple copies of "Records of Finds" were eliminated, since complete bound records are in the Range Area Room of the Museum. Also eliminated were "Loose Papers," a collection of typed copies of various lists which are included in other Karanis files.
"SHA Material" was the term Butler used to describe notes and papers pertaining to her thesis, Studies in the Life of Heliogobalus (1908) based on the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, which recorded the lives of the Emperors from Hadrian to Numerianus. Only some of these notes and the manuscript of the thesis were retained.
The "Biographical Section" of this collection is sparse. A few periodicals from Italy highlight events which took place when she was there in 1925-1926 and several University of Michigan publications include photographs of the campus and miscellaneous newspaper articles. A scrapbook of poems which she clipped from various sources completes this Section.
This collection of Orma Butler's files is valuable as a reference source. It complements the Kelsey papers by showing the successful completion of many projects which were left pending at the time of Kelsey's death in May 1927; It also contains numerous documents showing the Provenance of Museum artifacts.