Guide to the Elsa Butler Grove Papers, 1914-1969 (bulk 1919-1924)

Collection Summary

Biographical Note

Elsa May Butler was born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 16, 1884, the daughter of William Morton Butler (1855-1923), a teacher, and Marie (Lange) Butler (1861-1935), a German immigrant. A 1905 graduate of Vassar College, Grove received her master's degree from the Washington University School of Social Work in 1914 and was a fellow at Bryn Mawr from 1915-1916. She later became a student at Columbia University Graduate School of Political Science, where she studied economics, sociology, and anthropology.

Grove devoted much of her life to medical social work. During the First World War, she worked at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia, taught Social Economics for the Vassar College Training Camp for Nurses in the Summer of 1918, and served various roles for the Y.W.C.A and the American Red Cross. In October 1919, she was elected by the Vassar Unit Committee to the position of Vice-President of the Vassar College Red Cross welfare unit in Verdun, France. She sailed to France in December of 1919 and worked in Verdun to manage both the medical dispensary and "Goutte de Lait" milk station. She was decorated by the French government for her services managing the "Goutte de Lait," which provided French children with pasteurized milk and greatly decreased infant mortality in Verdun during its operation.

On June 14, 1921, Grove began a one-year position directing social work for the child relief units in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania for the American Red Cross Commission to Western Russia and the Baltic States. By August of 1920, the three Baltic States had each signed peace treaties with Russia to end both civil and international conflict and secure their independence from Russia. During this period of service, Grove spent the majority of her time stationed in the capital city of Riga, Latvia, where she took extensive notes on the conditions witnessed by the inhabitants of Latvia. Her observations provide an account of the difficulties of conducting health work overseas, in terms of those administering aid as well as those who are receiving the assistance.

After her return to the United States in 1922, Grove taught hospital service at Teacher's College of Columbia University, Fordham University, Dillard University, Smith College, and Mt. Sinai Hospital (1923-1942). She served as President of the Vassar College Class of 1905 from 1935 to 1940, and was active in numerous professional societies, including the New York Urban League, the National Institute of Immigration Welfare, and the American Association of Social Workers.

In preparation for Vassar's 100th Anniversary, Grove took a determined interest in the campaign for the establishment of a Women's Archives at Vassar College. It was her considered belief that the gathering of an extensive collection of materials relating to the role of women throughout history would serve as a valuable tool in the betterment of Vassar's academic resources.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains records of Elsa Butler Grove's work with the American Red Cross in the years after WWI, first with the Vassar Red Cross Relief Unit in Verdun, France, and later with the American Red Cross Commission to Western Russia and the Baltic States. It includes correspondence with family, Vassar alumnae and Vassar Unit members, and French colleagues and acquaintances; records and reports of the work of the Vassar Unit; diaries documenting Butler's time abroad in Europe; typescript articles about government, children, women, labor, and charity work in the Baltic States based on her work there; photographs of Grove and Verdun; miscellaneous maps, booklets, and clippings about Grove or the locations she visited; and various items of realia collected by Grove, including two artillery shell cases, Red Cross medals, and her Red Cross uniform.

Correspondents include Elsa's parents, William Morton Butler (1855-1923) and Marie Lange Butler (1861-1935), as well as her three sisters: Alice E. Butler Lange (1890-1974), Cora L. Butler Conant (1883-1977), and Clare W. Butler (1887-1981), who also graduated from Vassar in 1909 and went on to pursue a career in medical social work.

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Encoding Information

Encoded by Emma Gronbeck, December 2025.

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