Guide to the Papers of Benjamin Thomas Butcher

Searching...

MS 1881

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Benjamin T. Butcher
Title
Papers of Benjamin Thomas Butcher
Date Range
1902-1961
Collection Number
MS 1881
Extent
1.12 metres (7 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The collection consists mainly of correspondence, diaries, notes kept by Butcher while he served as a missionary in Papua-New Guinea, together with several incomplete drafts for his book We lived with Head hunters.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3008156).

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Benjamin Thomas Butcher, National Library of Australia, MS 1881, [series/file/item number]'.

Biographical Note

Benjamin Butcher was born in London in 1877. In 1896 he entered Chestnut College, a theological college, in Cambridge and on completion of the course, in 1901, he volunteered for service with the London Missionary Society in New Guinea. A year later he was appointed to the New Guinea Mission. In 1905 he arrived in the territory where he worked as a medical missionary until his retirement in 1938.

Item Descriptions

Series [unnumbered]. Correspondence

Letters written by Butcher in 1920 to his wife and children in Sydney and four letters written by Butcher between November 1936 - August 1938 to his family then in England. These very personal letters include some account of his life and work at Aird Hill, Kokori Delta (File 1)

Carbon copies in exercise books of daily letters written by Butcher to his wife when she was in England, November 1934 - January 1935, December 1936 - June 1938 (File 2)

Letters from Butcher to his mother, the bulk of which are carbon copies of daily letters written between April 1914 - July 1915. One letter to Butcher from his mother 28.12.23 (File 3)

Miscellaneous correspondence, including letters to and from Butcher's colleagues. c. 1940 - 1950 (File 4)

Letters written by Butcher's wife Eva to her parents, April 1913 - June 1916, all but one of which were written from Aird Hill, Kikori describing life at the mission. Also some letters from Eva to her daughter Hilary, 1936, when she and the children were in England (File 5)

Series [unnumbered]. Diaries

Volumes (14) with daily entries concerned primarily with Butcher's missionary work (File 6)

May 1905 - January 1906 (Item)
January 1912 - December 1912 (Item)
March 1920 - January 1922 (Item)
January 1922 - September 1922 (Item)
January 1923 - December 1923 (Item)
January 1924 - November 1924 (Item)
January 1925 - July 1925 (Item)
January 1928 - November 1928 (Item)
January 1930 - December 1230 (Item)
January 1931 - December 1931 (Item)
January 1932 - December 1932 (Item)
February 1933 - December 1933 (Item)
January 1935 - December 1935 (Item)
January 1937 - December 1937 (Item)
January 1938 - June 1938 (Item)

Series [unnumbered]. Literary Manuscripts

A number of manuscripts and typescript drafts of articles, short stories and Broadcasts written by Butcher concerning his life and experience in Papua. Also an account of life at Aird Hill written by Mrs Butcher (File 7)

A number of incomplete manuscript and typescript drafts of Butchers book We lived with Headhunters; also annotated extracts from top copies of his daily letters (q.v. file 2) which were kept with the drafts (File 8)

Series [unnumbered]. Notebook

Notebook kept by Butcher for the comparison of Kiwai and Kerawa grammar (File 9)

Series [unnumbered]. Cuttings

Cuttings from various newspapers and church magazines of letters and articles by or relating to Butcher and concerning the work or the London Missionary Society in Papua New Guinea (File 10)

Series [unnumbered]. Publications

Publications including two works by Butcher: Butcher, Benjamin T. We lived with Head Hunters. London. Hodder and Stoughton, [1963]. Authors signed copy. F.M. Extracts from a missionary's letter (an abridged account of an exploratory trip up the Bamu River in New Guinea made Butcher, October 1910) 12pp. 2 copies (File 11)

Series [unnumbered]. Miscellaneous Papers

Miscellaneous papers including an annual report of his mission signed by Butcher, some photographs and a blueprint (File 12)


Top