author
Joseph G. (Joseph Green) Butler
1840–1927
Best known as the founder of the Butler Institute of American Art, he was also a steelmaker, philanthropist, and lively chronicler of American industry. His books drew on firsthand experience and helped preserve stories of the iron and steel world he knew so well.
1 Audiobook
A Journey Through France in War Time
by Joseph G. (Joseph Green) Butler
About the author
Born in Pennsylvania in 1840 and long associated with Youngstown, Ohio, Joseph Green Butler Jr. built his career in the iron and steel business and became one of the best-known industrial figures in the Mahoning Valley. Alongside his work in industry, he developed a strong interest in history and public life, writing in an accessible style that made him a popular historian.
As an author, Butler is especially associated with books such as Fifty Years of Iron and Steel and his autobiography, Recollections of Men and Events. His writing is valued for its firsthand view of the people, growth, and character of American industrial life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He is also remembered for philanthropy, most famously for founding the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, often described as the first museum in the United States devoted exclusively to American art. Butler died in 1927, leaving behind a legacy that links industry, local history, and the arts.