Butler Funeral Home was the first black-owned funeral home in the city of Flint. It first opened its doors in 1932 as Robinson & Chandler Funeral Home by owners Charles H. Robinson and Robert C. Chandler at the address 3115 St. John St. With the death of both Robinson and Chandler in 1956, the funeral home came under the ownership of Robinson’s widow, Ailene R. Butler.

Robinson & Chandler Funeral Home was renamed Butler Funeral Home in 1957. Likely due to the looming land acquisitions by the State of Michigan for the construction of I-475, Butler Funeral Home moved out of the St. John St. building and relocated 2 miles northwest to address 4915 N. Saginaw St. in 1964. In 1970, Butler Funeral Home relocated 1.5 miles West to 906 W. Park Blvd, replacing the Lenczycki Funeral Home that previously occupied the property. Butler Funeral Home remained at this location until its closure in 1986. In 1987 the property was purchased, renovated and reopened as Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home which remains at this location as of the date of this finding aid.

Fourteen box collection with two different sets of boxes, a numbered set and lettered set. The collection’s first eleven boxes are numbered and individual files in these boxes are listed alphabetically by surname of the deceased. The boxes are listed in the order as follows: 1-57, 58-119, 120-178, 179-193, 225-280, 281-304, 305-348, 349-383, 394-440, 441-482, 483-507.

The collection’s additional three boxes are listed by letters: A-H, J-M, N-Z. Individual files are listed in these boxes alphabetically by surname of the deceased along with their date of death. Files in this collection include various documents necessary for funeral services and burial: Obituaries published by Butler Funeral Home, funeral home receipts/billing for services offered, obituaries written by family of the deceased for the funeral home to produce funeral programs, funeral notice order forms for publication in the Flint Journal obituary section, death certificates, funeral memorial service cards/programs produced by Butler Funeral Home. Consistent features in each file are funeral home internal purchase orders and invoices, newspaper clippings of obituaries, copies of life insurance policies, correspondence in cases of non-payment between the funeral home director/owner Ailene R. Butler and clients. Some files also contain I.D. or insurance cards of the deceased and photographs provided for reproduction on funeral programs.

These documents represent the academic and career accomplishments of Beatrice Welzel who worked for the Central Foundry Division of the General Motors Corporation.

Bea Munson was born in 1910 in Flushing, Michigan. She graduated from Flushing High School in 1927. She began working at the General Motors Corporation the same year. According to census records, she married George Welzel, a salesman in the hardware industry. Their son, George P. Welzel, was born in October of 1949. The family resided in Saginaw. She celebrated 25 years at General Motors in 1952. She died in 2008.

The collection includes letters from the General Manager J.H. Smith, a history of the Central Foundry Division written by the Public Affairs office, a certificate of achievement and a booklet explaining employee benefits document life as a General Motors employee in the Central Foundry Division-Financial Department. The collection also features pamphlets, photographs, souvenir programs, seating charts for the Annual Quarter Century Banquet, buttons, a souvenir coin, a ruler and a GM branded Table of Frequently Used Units card.

The collection was originally received by the Museum on September 7, 1993. Images were added to the collection through 2007. The collection reflects the work of a committee that was founded to compile Black history. Not all images in the collection have been digitized. Access to the full collection is available in the Sloan Museum of Discovery Research Room by appointment.

The collection depicts scenes of Black life in Flint, Michigan including people, buildings and objects. The images feature ordinary and prominent members of the community as they went about their daily lives.