Collection is open for research.
Gift of Dr. Eugene S. Sullivan, December 1991 (Lib. Acc. 20591).
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.
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War records, Mss 2937, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This collection consists of records from Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Owen Summers Camp No. 4, and from the local Sons of Veterans Reserve (SVR) unit. The records include correspondence, reports, memoranda, membership rosters, newsletters, charter certificates, and biographical sketches. Topics include formation of the local SVR unit, expansion of membership, public activities, and performances of the Oregon Blues Brigade Fife and Drum Corps, a unit of the SVR. Many of the records relate to the activities of Claude R. Butcher, Commander of the Sixth Military District of the SVR.
Images received with the records were separated to photograph collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.