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Correspondent:
Paul, William L. Jr  Search this
Creator:
Curry, James E., 1907-1972  Search this
Names:
Rosebud Sioux Tribe  Search this
Three Affiliated Tribes  Search this
United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs  Search this
Bingham, Jonathan  Search this
Cohen, Felix  Search this
Cohen, Henry  Search this
Extent:
121.7 Linear feet
Culture:
Potawatomi  Search this
Muckleshoot  Search this
Nooksack  Search this
Missouria (Missouri)  Search this
Kalispel (Pend d'Oreilles)  Search this
Coeur d'Alene  Search this
Sac and Fox (Sauk & Fox)  Search this
Haida [Kasaan]  Search this
Salish (Flathead)  Search this
Kiowa  Search this
Yuit (Siberian Yup'ik) [Gambell, St. Lawrence Island]  Search this
Hunkpapa Lakota [Standing Rock]  Search this
Sicangu Lakota (Brulé Sioux)  Search this
Wahpetonwan Dakota [Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe]  Search this
Mdewakantonwan Dakota [Flandreau]  Search this
Diné (Navajo)  Search this
Yavapai [Fort McDowell]  Search this
Mojave (Mohave)  Search this
Piipaash (Maricopa)  Search this
Iroquois  Search this
Wendat (Huron)  Search this
Hopi Pueblo  Search this
Santa Ana Pueblo  Search this
Cocopa  Search this
San Ildefonso Pueblo  Search this
Akimel O'odham (Pima)  Search this
San Felipe Pueblo  Search this
Tohono O'odham (Papago)  Search this
Paiute  Search this
Wesort  Search this
Tillamook  Search this
Nisga'a (Niska)  Search this
Stockbridge Mahican  Search this
Quinault  Search this
Lummi  Search this
Hualapai (Walapai)  Search this
Taos Pueblo  Search this
Tesuque Pueblo  Search this
Eastern Shawnee [Quapaw Agency, Oklahoma]  Search this
Shoshone  Search this
Sandia Pueblo  Search this
Seminole  Search this
Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux  Search this
Coeur d'Alene  Search this
Croatan  Search this
Choctaw  Search this
Cocopa  Search this
Chickahominy  Search this
Lake Superior Chippewa [Lac Courte Oreilles, Wisconsin]  Search this
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)  Search this
K'apovi (Santa Clara Pueblo)  Search this
Unangan (Aleut)  Search this
Chiricahua Apache [Fort Sill, Oklahoma]  Search this
San Carlos Apache  Search this
Inunaina (Arapaho)  Search this
Sioux [Crow Creek]  Search this
Quechan (Yuma/Cuchan)  Search this
Isleta Pueblo  Search this
Caddo  Search this
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)  Search this
Yavapai  Search this
Sauk  Search this
Washoe (Washo)  Search this
Niimíipuu (Nez Perce)  Search this
Seneca  Search this
Omaha  Search this
Menominee (Menomini)  Search this
Niuam (Comanche)  Search this
Seri  Search this
Zia Pueblo  Search this
Yoeme (Yaqui)  Search this
Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)  Search this
Catawba  Search this
Muskogee (Creek)  Search this
Numakiki (Mandan)  Search this
Minitari (Hidatsa)  Search this
Sahnish (Arikara)  Search this
Osage  Search this
Chickasaw  Search this
Umatilla  Search this
Kaw (Kansa)  Search this
Tsimshian [Metlakatla]  Search this
Tlingit  Search this
Ute  Search this
Laguna Pueblo  Search this
Jemez Pueblo  Search this
Havasupai (Coconino)  Search this
Kootenai (Kutenai) [Idaho]  Search this
Klamath  Search this
Kickapoo [Oklahoma]  Search this
Oto  Search this
Spokan  Search this
Yakama (Yakima)  Search this
A:shiwi (Zuni)  Search this
Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo)  Search this
Cochiti Pueblo  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Notes
Letters
Clippings
Legal documents
Place:
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina
Date:
1932-1958
Summary:
These are the papers of Washington, D.C. attorney James E. Curry, whose legal career included work both as a government attorney and in his own private practice. The bulk of the papers reflect his private practice in the area of Indian affairs.
Scope and Contents:
The material in the collection includes documents relating to many aspects of Curry's career but most of it relates to his work with Indian tribes and the National Congress of American Indians. For the most, the collection is made up of such materials as letters exchanged with government officials, Indians, and other attorneys; copies of legal documents; published government documents; notes; and clippings and other printed materials. Of particular significance is a subject file relating to Indian affairs. It includes material concerning affairs of Alaskan natives and the Aleut (Akutan, Pribilof Islands), Apache (including Fort Sill, Jicarilla, Mescalero, San Carlos White Mountain), Arapaho (Southern), Assiniboine (Fort Belknap, Fort Peck), Bannock (including Fort Hall), Blackfeet, Caddo, Catawba, Cherokee (Eastern), Cheyenne (Northern, Southern), Chickahominy, Chickasaw, Chippewa (including Lac Courte Oreilles), Choctaw, Cochiti, Cocopa, Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Comanche, Creek, Croatan, Crow, Dakota (Big Foot, Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Devil's Lake, Flandreau, Fort Totten, Lower Brule, Mdewakanton, Oglala, Rosebud, Santee, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Standing Rock, Yankton), Delaware, Eskimo (including Gambell, Kiana), Flathead, Fox, Haida (including Kasaan), Havasupai, Hopi, Iroquois (Caughnawaga, Seneca, St. Regis), Isleta, Jemez, Kalilspel, Kansa (Kaw), Kickapoo, Kiowa, Klamath, Kutenai, Laguna, Lummi, Maricopa (Gila River, Salt River), Menominee, Missouria, Mohave (Fort Mohave), Mohave Apache (Fort McDowell), Muckleshoot, Navaho, Nez Perce, Niska, Nooksak, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Papago, Paiute (Fallon, Fort McDermitt), Moapa, Pyramid Lake, Shivwits, Walker River, Yerington), Pima (Gila River, Salt River), Potowatomi, Quinaielt, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Sandia, Sauk, Seminole (Florida, Oklahoma), Seneca, Seri, Shawnee (Eastern), Shoshoni (including Fort Hall), Sia, Spokan, Stockbridge, Taos (Pyote clan), Tesuque, Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa), Tillamook, Tlingit (including Angoon, Craig, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan, Klawak, Klukwan, Taku, Wrangell), Tsimshian (Metlakatla), Umatilla, Ute (including Uintah-Ouray), Walapai, Washo, Wesort, Winnebago, Wyandot, Yakima, Yaqui, Yavapai, Yuma, and Zuni. There are also materials relating to Curry's work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Congress of American Indians, and material that reflects his interest in conditions and events in given locations (often filed by state) and in organizations with interest in Indians. The material relating to Curry's work in Puerto Rico has been deposited in the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, in San Juan.
Arrangement note:
The James E. Curry Papershave been arranged into 6 series: (1) Daily Chronological Files, 1941-1955; (2) Subject Files Regarding Indian Affairs, bulk 1935-1955; (3) Miscellaneous Files Regarding Indian Affairs, bulk 1947-1953; (4) Non-Indian Affairs, n.d.; (5) Puerto Rico Work, 1941-1947; (6) Miscellany, undated.
Biographical/Historical note:
James E. Curry was trained in law in Chicago and practiced in that city from 1930 until 1936, serving part of that time as secretary of the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. From 1936 to 1938, he was an attorney with the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, being largely involved with matters of credit affecting Indians. From 1938 to 1942, he continued service with the Interior Department but worked in several capacities involving the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, the department's Consumers' Counsel Division, and the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority. In 1945, Curry returned to Washington and set up private practice, also maintaining for a time an office in Puerto Rico. In Washington, he became the attorney for the National Congress of American Indians and from that time until the 1950s his practice increasingly involved representation of American Indian tribes, mostly in claims against the federal government. In this work, for a time, he was involved in business relations with a New York Law firm that included Henry Cohen, Felix Cohen, and Jonathan Bingham. He also often worked closely with lawyers who lived near the tribes he represented, William L. Paul, Jr., of Alaska, for example. This aspect of his practice--representing Indian tribes--was largely broken up during the early 1950s when the Commissioner of Indian Affairs began to use his powers to disapprove contracts between Curry and the tribes. In 1952 and 1953, his official relationship with the National Congress of American Indians was also ended. After this, while Curry continued until his death to act as a consultant in Indian claims with which he had earlier been involved, his career and life developed in a different direction.
Related Materials:
Additional material relating to James E. Curry can be found in the records of the National Congress of American Indians, also located at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center.
Provenance:
The Curry papers were originally donated to the National Anthropological Archives by James E. Curry's daughter Mrs. Aileen Curry-Cloonan in December 1973. In 2007 The Curry papers were transferred from the National Anthropological Archives to the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center along with several other records concerning American Indian law and political rights.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadbast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Genre/Form:
Notes
Letters
Clippings
Legal documents
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); James E. Curry papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAI.AC.015
See more items in:
James E. Curry papers
Archival Repository:
National Museum of the American Indian
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv47452304f-6226-44f3-9c83-407a91782872
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmai-ac-015