Charles Butterworth and Esther Butterworth papers, 1856-1975

Photographer and painter Charles Butterworth was born in 1858 in Mainsville, Ohio, near Cincinnati. He grew up on his parents' farm and studied photography in New Vienna, Ohio. There, he married Etta Miller in 1883. He worked as a photographer in Wilmington, Ohio, then moved with his family to Ontario, California, in 1895. In 1898, the Butterworths relocated to Portland, Oregon, where they remained the rest of their lives. Charles Butterworth achieved recognition for his artistic photographic work, especially children's portraiture, and he was instrumental in the formation of the Photographic Association of Portland. The Butterworths had two children, Arthur and Esther. Esther Butterworth (1889-1976) became a photographer herself, and was also known as a photo colorist. She worked for a time in the studios of photographer Edwin S. Curtis in Los Angeles, California.