Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War records, 1913-1978

In 1866, Union veterans of the Civil War organized into the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), which existed until 1956. In 1881, the GAR formed the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America (SV) to carry on its traditions. Membership was open to any man who could prove ancestry from a member of the GAR or a veteran eligible for membership. Men who did not have the ancestry to qualify for membership, but who could subscribe to the objectives of the SUVCW, were admitted as associates. The SV Owen Summers Camp No. 4, Department of Oregon and Washington, was chartered in 1913 in Portland, Oregon. In 1925, the Sons of Veterans of the United States America name was changed to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), and the organization's federal charter was issued in 1954. The SUVCW includes a ceremonial uniformed military division, the Sons of Veterans Reserve (SVR), whose units participate in Civil War-related ceremonies, parades, living history programs, and re-enactments. In 1963, Claude R. Butcher, a member of the SUVCW, organized a local SVR unit in Lake Oswego, Oregon.