Frances Butler Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Most of this collection has been digitized. Some items have not beed digitized due to copyright or other logistical issues.
What's in the full collection?: 23 April 2003 Oral History Trancript; formal military portrait photograph of Josephine Butler in WAVES gray and white seersucker working uniform and garrison cap, circa 1944; photograph of family with sisters in uniforms; and photograph of Frances and sister at a boat christening , circa 1943-1946; newspaper article on Frances on her service in the military.
Full biography: Sister Frances Butler (1924-2013) of Savannah, Georgia, served in the United States Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II, and later joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Sister Frances Butler was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1924. She was the fourth of her sisters to attended Woman's College (WC) in Greensboro, North Carolina, which she did for two years before becoming the third of her sisters to join in the United States Navy WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service] in the summer of 1944. Butler was sworn into the service in Nashville, Tennessee, and sent to Hunter College in New York for boot camp. She worked in communications while stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, and then the following summer was sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After leaving the WAVES, Butler returned to Woman's College in fall 1946, double majoring in French and Spanish, and completing her degree in 1948. She received a French government assistantship and taught at a boys' school in France for a year. Butler returned to the United States and attended Columbia University in New York, but returned to WC in 1951 to serve as a counselor at the request of Dean Katherine Taylor. Three years later she enrolled in a counseling program at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. While there, she met the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who ran nearby Trinity Washington University. In the mid-1950s, Butler joined the Sisters of Notre Dame in Belgium. She then returned to the United States and taught French at Trinity, then was sent to Rome for five years in the 1960s. Following a year-long pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Butler returned to Washington, D.C., to establish and direct the sisters' Education for Parish Services [EPS] Faith Vacations program.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Schools and Colleges
Branch of service: Navy -- WAVES
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Navy--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Butler family portrait; The E. George Butler family poses for a portrait in their home in Savannah, Georgia, during Thanksgiving weekend of 1946. In the back row are: Ellen Butler, Red Cross; Josephine Butler, Julia Butler, and Frances Butler, WAVES. In the front row are: Col. George Butler (ret.) and Josephine Jette Butler. Julia, Josephine, and Francis wear the WAVES blue dress uniform; Ellen wears the ARC summer service uniform.

: Butler sisters at ship christening; Frances Butler's sisters, Julia Butler and Josephine Butler, pose at the christening of the Liberty ship SSEdwin L. Godkin on 30 November 1943. The Butler sisters worked at the Savannah Ship Building Company prior to joining the WAVES, and Josephine holds the bottle that will christen the ship. Both women wear the WAVES overcoat and officer's cap with blue cover.

: Oral history interview with Frances Butler; Documents Frances Butler's family, education at Woman's College, service in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during WWII, and life as a Sister of Notre Dame." Butler gives a brief overview of her education, noting she was the fourth of her family to attend Woman's College. She notes her sisters' service in the U.S. Navy and Red Cross, gives her reasons for enlisting in the WAVES, and briefly mentions her basic training at Hunter College and her assignments to Charleston, South Carolina; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She recalls the drop of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and subsequently receiving enough points to be discharged from the navy. She shares her experience freeing a man to fight. " Butler discusses visiting Woman's College and Dean of Students Katherine Henrietta Taylor, who convinced her to re-enroll in school. She gives some details about her last two years at WC, including serving on the Judicial Board. She also discusses receiving a French government assistantship, being mistakenly assigned to boys' school, and seeing the destruction left by WWII. She describes attending Columbia University in New York; serving as a counselor at Woman's College; and attending Catholic University in Washington, D.C. " Butler discusses joining the Sisters of Notre Dame. realted topics include: living in Belgium for a year; teaching at Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University); working with postulates during the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican; traveling to Israel; and working with the Education for Parish Service.

: Portrait of Frances Butler; Portrait of Josephine Butler in WAVES gray and white seersucker working uniform and garrison cap, circa 1944.

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Women Veterans Historical Project

Frances Butler Collection

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