{"value"=>"<p>The earliest Butler letters are those of the older generation, including Charles E. Butler and his first and second wives Louisa Clinch Butler and Susan Sedgwick Butler. Letters depict family life during the time period, and cover events such as birth, marriage, death and other announcements; information about family and friends; and everyday activities. There is also some professional correspondence to Charles E. Butler in his letters received. Notable is a folder of letters received from McKim, Mead and White addressing details regarding St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Charles McKim was hired by Charles E. Butler to design the church in memory of Charles' wife Susan Sedgwick Butler.</p> <p>Prescott and Cornelia Smith Butler are well-represented within the Butler correspondence. Throughout their lives, both Cornelia and Prescott corresponded frequently with their families. The couple also exchanged letters when Cornelia spent summers in Long Island with the children and Prescott remained in New York City. These letters provide impressions of New York City and fashionable precincts of Long Island. Both Cornelia and Prescott's letters have references to the house \"Bytharbor\" in St. James, Long Island designed for them by Charles McKim, as well as references to his partner Stanford White, who was related to them through his marriage to Cornelia's sister Bessie.</p> <p>Of particular interest in the Butler correspondence are letters written to Prescott and Cornelia's son, Lawrence Smith Butler, from George Santayana. The letters span the years 1901-1941. Topics range from planning visits to see one another, to Santayana discussing his writings and daily life living in Rome in his later years. There are also letters of condolence from Santayana to Lawrence Butler on the deaths of his father and mother, with both letters having a general tone of praise for Butler's family.</p> <p>The correspondence is arranged alphabetically, with outgoing letters listed before incoming.</p>"}