Wesleyan University Office of the President Victor Lloyd Butterfield records

Dr. Victor Lloyd Butterfield (1904-1975) served as Wesleyan University's eleventh president from 1943-1967, the longest-serving president in Wesleyan's history. Butterfield was born on February 7, 1904, in Kingston, Rhode Island, to Kenyon L. Butterfield and Harriet Millard. He married Katharina Geyer on June 11, 1928 and they had two children, Margot and Daniel.

As a child, Butterfield always wanted to be a teacher, his own father being the president of Rhode Island State College and later Massachusetts State College. Butterfield attended Deerfield Academy before moving onto Cornell where he graduated from in 1927 and later received a master's degree in 1928. In 1936, he earned his PhD from Harvard.

After teaching at independent schools and universities, Butterfield arrived at Wesleyan in 1935 as director of admissions and instructor in philosophy. Butterfield quickly progressed to Dean of Freshmen in 1938, Associate Dean in 1941 and Acting President in 1942. After a one-year stint as acting president of Wesleyan, he was inaugurated as president in 1943 and remained as such until his retirement in 1967.

During Butterfield's tenure at Wesleyan, he increased the size of the student body, the number and quality of faculty, number of buildings on campus, and the endowment fund. Butterfield also changed the curriculum to meet the demands of returning WWII soldiers, and through his dedication to liberal education he created the highly acclaimed and innovative "College Plan", established the Center for Advanced Studies and laid the framework for the re-establishment of a co-educational Wesleyan.

Butterfield, a nationally-known spokesman for liberal education, was a member and at times leader of many organizations and societies such as the Ford Foundation for Advancement of Education, and the Commission on Liberal Education of the Association of American Colleges. His involvement with such organizations and societies continued on after he retired from Wesleyan. He earned honorary degrees from 14 institutions.