Saturday, January 24, 2009

ask butler, not jeeves

Two great articles (here and here) in a recent edition of the Business-Journal feature the life and times of Joseph G. Butler Jr., who started with James Wick the Ohio Steel Company in 1892.

Butler went on to found the acclaimed museum in Youngstown which bears his name.


But besides his passion of collecting art, Butler was also an accomplished author.

According to the article:
"Butler was the author of eight books, among which were his three-volume History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley (1921) and his autobiography, Recollections of Men and Events (1925). These and other lesser-known works such as Presidents I Have Seen and Known (1910), and Fifty Years of Iron and Steel (1923) were printed"
Similar to the Volney Rodgers book covered in the blog this week, Butler's History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley (now on sale for $299 and $375 on amazon.com) is now available for free to all, thanks to Google's scanning efforts.

Youngstown Renaissance does a fine job of linking to each of the chapters in Bulter's book - all searchable by word.

volume I is 850+ pages.
volume II is big too.

The physical books are also located on the reference shelf on the 2nd floor of the downtown branch of the Youngstown Library as well.

But if you are looking for a searchable thorough history of pre-1920 Youngstown, this is it. A great resource for any researcher or casual observer.

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