Butler University Libraries

Happy birthday, Ovid Butler! 🎉

Happy birthday, Ovid Butler! 🎉 In honor of Founder's Day, we celebrate the history behind Butler University.

Ovid Butler was born on February 7, 1801 in Augusta, New York. Ovid (1801-1881) was a schoolteacher, lawyer, journalist, land developer, abolitionist, and one of the founders of Butler University. Born in New York, he moved to Indiana with his parents and siblings around the age of seventeen. In 1825, he moved to Shelbyville, where he met hist first wife Cordelia Cole (1809-1838), whom he married in 1827. Nine years later, Ovid moved his family to Indianapolis, where he established a law practice; his father Chauncy also moved with them to become the preacher at Central Christian Church, a Disciples of Christ congregation. Ovid married his second wife, Elizabeth Anne Elgin (1818-1882), in 1840. Ovid experienced ill health in 1847, and by 1849, he had retried from his law practice.

Around the time of his illness, Ovid became more politically active. As a staunch abolitionist, he helped organize the Free Soil Party (1848-1852), which consisted of anti-slavery Democrats and Whigs. In the same year, he began publishing "The Free Soil Banner" and promoted the party's initiatives and advocated for the abolition of slavery. He later helped establish "The Indiana Free Soil Democrat" newspaper, which eventually merged with "The Indianapolis Journal". As the 1850s continued, the national Free Soil Party declined, and in 1854, Ovid and other Hoosier party members and abolitionists helped found the original Republican Party.

In 1847, Ovid involved himself with the initiative to found a Disciples of Christ university in Indiana. He served on the initial five-person committee to consider proposed sites for the institution, and after a few years of delay, he was chosen at the 1849 Disciples of Christ state meeting to lead the seven-person committee to draft the legal charter. Having purchased approximately twenty-five acres of farmland north of Indianapolis's Mile Square in 1846, he provided around twenty acres near his house (known as "Forest Home") to be used as the first campus. This campus was located along what we now know as College Avenue and near the I-65 and I-70 split in downtown Indianapolis.

Ovid was involved in initial fundraising and promotion for the institution, which was first known as North Western Christian University. Additionally, Ovid sought donations to help its growth and led the Board of Directors until 1871. In 1877, the Board - against Ovid's wishes - renamed the institution to Butler University in his honor.

Want to learn more about the history of Butler University? Visit our exhibit "Butler University Founder’s Celebration: A Historical Exhibit from Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives" in Irwin Library now through the end of February. You can find this exhibit on the first floor of the library behind our fountain.

Happy National Mascot Day!

In honor of today, we share with you “Good Boy, Blue!”, which was written in 2014 by Michael Kaltenmark and illustrated by Jingo M. de La Rosa. The book allows you to “Join Blue for his first day on the job as he learns The Butler Way and what it means to be a good boy.”

You can find a copy of the book for viewing in the Education Resource Library and a signed copy in the Butler University Archives - Special Collections.

Today marks the centennial of the first intercollegiate athletic contest held at the present Butler University campus! ⚾️🏟️

On May 17, 1924, the university hosted a baseball game at the future Fairview campus between Butler University and the University of Chicago. Coming into the game, Chicago was well known for its academics and athletics, along with being a founding member of the Big Ten Conference (1896-1946). The stakes on the field were even higher for bragging rights, as Chicago was the alma mater for Butler’s Athletic Director Pat Page and Coach Tony Hinkle. This important game would take place nearly four years before the opening of Butler Fieldhouse (now Hinkle Fieldhouse) and Jordan Hall in 1928.

To drum up more interest for the game and the future campus, May 17, 1924, was designated Fairview Day and the Indianapolis community was invited to attend. To showcase the future campus to the community, blue and white pennants were placed on the grounds laying out the sites of the future buildings and boulevards. According to reports, over 3,000 individuals from the community attended Fairview Day.

The baseball field was located in the present mall area between what we now know as Jordan Hall, Irwin Library and the Lacy School of Business. The field on campus was dedicated with a historical home plate marker in 1976, marking the batter’s spot. Now to the action on the field in 1924. The blue and white squad of Butler came from behind to defeat Chicago’s maroon and white squad, overcoming a four-run deficit in the 5th inning. The Bulldogs would score the winning runs in the 7th inning, leading to an 8-6 victory against the Maroons. Tony’s baseball squad would finish the 1924 season with a 13-9 record, defeating well-known teams such as Chicago, Cincinnati, Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue.

⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️

Interested in learning more about Butler University’s history? Visit the Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives department on the third floor of Irwin Library.

Note: Baseball plaque photographs taken back in March 2024.

This November, Butler Libraries will be offering free lunchtime Zoom workshops highlighting Google for business information, the citation management tool Zotero, and fresh ideas for diversifying your pedagogy. Sessions are open to all faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

For more information, check out Butler Libraries' free Zoom workshops here: https://butler.libcal.com/calendar/libraryworkshops

Contact Jennifer Coronado ([email protected]) or Brittany Heer ([email protected]) for any questions.

Butler Libraries Film Series Presents: Godard's Band of Outsiders
Thursday, September 14 at 7:30