Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Edmund Curtis (1855-1923) span the years 1885-1923, with the bulk of the material dated 1893-1896. The papers include family and general correspondence, financial papers, memoranda, notes, reports, code books, invitations, a biographical sketch, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and printed matter.
The collection relates chiefly to Curtis's service as assistant secretary of the United States Treasury and covers financial topics relating to silver certificates, gold reserves, deficit spending, loans, custom receipts, and inflation. The papers also include letters from Curtis to his mother, Mary Ann Scovill Curtis, chronicling his day-to-day activities.
Correspondents include Alvey A. Adee, John Griffin Carlisle, F. Marion Crawford, Charles S. Fairchild, Hickson W. Field, Richard Watson Gilder, Sir Edward Goschen, Sir Hugh Henry Gough, Sir Alan Johnstone, C. N. Jordan, Joseph S. McCoy, Maurice L. Muhleman, William Alfred Peffer, J. G. Rosengarten, James Speyer, and James Stillman.