Nellie L. Brown Butler
Cite this Page
"Nellie L. Brown Butler," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/691.
- Positions
- Cook
- Kitchen Assistant
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- 1927 – circa 1964
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
- Nellie L. Butler (nee Brown) was born in Washington, D.C. around 1900.1 Beginning in 1927, Nellie worked at the White House as a kitchenmaid and housemaid. She likely obtained this role through her brother, Charles C. Brown, who had worked as a houseman at the White House for over a decade.2 Brown married James H. Butler in 1944.3 She served at the White House through at least 1964; by that time, she worked as a “wardrobe maid” or “restroom matron.”4 On January 6, 1964, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson hosted a reception for White House employees. The event, held after the end of the mourning period for President John F. Kennedy, was a chance for the Johnsons to meet the staff. Mrs. Johnson noted in that day’s diary entry: “One of the best things was to meet…the people who have been there the longest— Miss Nellie Butler, who had come as a cook during the Coolidge administration... This is one of the nicest parties I ever expect to have here, because its guests are people I think most deserve to come to a party.”5 It is unclear when Butler departed from the White House and details about her later life are scarce.
- Nellie Brown in the 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0214; FHL microfilm: 2340033, Ancestry.com.
- Christmas 1930, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1930, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Employees on Duty at the Executive Office, 1929, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1929, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; White House Employees, 1932, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1932, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Xmas List 1931, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; "Servants on the White House Staff," 1933, Folder: White House Functions: Records and Correspondence, Office of Social Entertainments, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York; "Negro Employees at the White House Executive Office, and White House Garage as of March 31, 1933," White House Office Personnel, 1933-1935; Records of the White House Office of Budget and Accounting, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York; Ellen A. Riley to Lou Henry Hoover, January 1929, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, Servants and Aides General 1929-1933, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
- Nellie L. Brown in the 1940 United States Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00572; Page: 62B; Enumeration District: 1-551, Ancestry.com.
- Personnel Changes 1948-1949, July 1, 1948, Records of the White House Office: Records Relating to Accounts, Purchases and Personnel (Record Group 130), Harry S. Truman Library; Personnel Changes 1947-1948, July 1, 1947, Records of the White House Office: Records Relating to Accounts, Purchases and Personnel (Record Group 130), Harry S. Truman Library; “1,000 at Johnson Party for White House Staff,” New York Times, January 7, 1964, pg. 15; Nellie Butler, 1950 United States Federal Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: 2525; Page: 77; Enumeration District: 1-1200, Ancestry.com.
- Lady Bird Johnson, White House Diary (University of Texas Press, 2007), 31-32; “Lady Bird’s White House Plans,” San Fransisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA), January 17, 1964, pg. 26.
- Birthplace
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Related Worker
- Charles C. BrownHousekeeping and Laundry, 1918 – 1931