| Description | The collection consists of notebooks, papers, accounts, correspondence and other miscellaneous items.
The extent to which the original Butterworth Library and Manuscripts have survived to the present day is not known. The catalogue of Edwin's library c. 1848 (BUT/L/A/2), acquired for the Oldham Lyceum after his death, lists nearly five hundred titles. In addition, the cataloguer lists:
"An Immense quantity of Manuscripts chiefly relating to Lancashire
A Countless heap of Letters and Papers many of which are important
A Score or two of Newspaper Scrap Books Literary and Local arranged separately
Three or four Hat Boxes full of Newspaper Scraps ready for arranging
Number of valuable Maps Local & others some of which are by the hands of the Butterworths
A great number of Engravings both portrait and landscape
Also a Cart load of Tracts Magazines Periodicals and Newspapers in almost endless variety"
The extent to which the original Butterworth Library and Manuscripts have survived to the present day is not known. The present accumulation almost entirely comprises Edwin's papers. A few papers for his father, James, and for Edwin's memorial subscription, are also included.
The collection was transferred from the Lyceum to Oldham Free Library after it opened in 1886.
At one stage the Butterworth collection seems to have been dispersed, with the books and pamphlets being absorbed into the general collections of Oldham Local Studies Library, disconnected from the manuscripts. A few papers appear to have strayed into, or had connections with, the Library's Whitehead and Higson antiquarian collections.
Most recently, the manuscripts have been managed by the new Oldham Archives Service. This catalogue attempts to re-create, as far as is now possible, the original context and relationships of the accumulated Butterworth Papers. |