Nathaniel J. Butler (May 22, 1853 – March 3, 1927) was the 12th President of Colby College, Maine, United States from 1896 to 1901.

He was educated at Camden High School and Coburn Classical Institute, and graduated from Colby College in 1873.

From 1876 to 1879 was associate principal of a similar institution at Highland Hall College, Highland Park, Ill.[2] William Rainey Harper called him to the professorship of English Literature at the Old University of Chicago in 1884, where he was also a professor of Latin.

[1] In 1901 he became professor of education and director of cooperating work in The University of Chicago.

He served as Dean of Education at Chicago between the departure of John Dewey in 1904 and the arrival of Charles Hubbard Judd in 1909.