Butler, Alban B.

Alban B. Butler Jr. (1891-1949) did the bulk of his cartooning during WWI, where he rose to the rank of Captain in the First Division. I've been able to track down only one book by Butler actually published during WWI. Training for the Trenches was published in 1917, when, I believe, Butler was still Stateside in the Army training camp. In 1928, a limited edition book, Happy Days!, was publish by the Society of the First Division, collecting Butler' WWI cartoons. By this time, Butler was first firmly a part of his family's oil business, running the operations in Oklahoma. From what I've been able to discover, Butler did a fair amount of cartooning for himself, kept elaborate visual diaries (where are those?!), and did occasional freelance illustration work for The Press of the Woolly Whale. But by and large, he was an oil man until he passed away in 1949.

Both of the originals in this gallery came from Art Wood's collection, and are only noted with Butler's name on the back, written by Art. I believe them to both be unpublished, possibly being cartoons based upon Butler's visual diaries.

Of some interest is the 1937 column written by the famed war correspondent, Ernie Pyle. He writes at length about Butler's diaries, marveling at the power of his imagery.