Special Collection Treasures

William E. Butterworth III grew up around New York City and Philadelphia. After serving in the Korean War, he became the Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

In a span of time covering 5 decades, Butterworth has written 150 books and short stories. Although he has taken many pen names, he is best known as W. E. B. Griffin.

In 1981 and 1982, Butterworth gave many of his manuscripts to the Special Collection department at Samford University. His collection at Samford covers 13 linear feet and over 50 manuscripts.

Below are 2 pages from the submitted manuscript for Book 2 of Griffin's The Brotherhood of War series. When the manuscript was first submitted for publishing, Butterworth had not yet decided to use the pen name W. E. B. Griffin for the series. Before publishing, Book 2 also became "The Captains."