Alderman, Edwin Anderson. J. L. M. Curry. An address by Edwin Anderson Alderman. [Brooklyn: Eagle Press], 1903.
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Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object
Duke University
Library of Congress
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
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CURRY, Jabez Lamar Monroe
About this object
1825–1903
Biography
CURRY, Jabez Lamar Monroe, a Representative from Alabama; born near Double Branches, Lincoln County, Ga., June 5, 1825; moved with his father to Talladega County, Ala., in 1838; was graduated from the University of Georgia at Athens in 1843; studied law at Harvard University; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Talladega County in 1845; served in the war with Mexico as a private in the Texas Rangers in 1846, but resigned because of ill health; member of the State house of representatives in 1847, 1853, and 1855; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses and served from March 4, 1857, to January 21, 1861, when he withdrew; deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Confederate Congress and a Representative in the First Confederate Congress; during the Civil War served as lieutenant colonel of Cavalry in the Confederate Army; after the war became a Baptist preacher; chosen president of Howard College, Alabama, in 1865; professor in Richmond College, Virginia, 1868-1881; agent of the Peabody and States Funds from 1881 until his death; appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain on October 7, 1885, and served until August 6, 1888, when he resigned; appointed Ambassador Extraordinary on special mission to Spain (the coming of age of the King) February 3, 1902; died in Victoria, near Asheville, N.C., February 12, 1903; interment in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
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Alabama Department of Archives and History
Montgomery, AL
Papers:
Papers: In the J.L.M. Curry family papers, 1816-1907, 2.5 cubic feet.
The Jabez L.M. Curry papers consist of biographical material, letters, financial records, two manuscripts, printed material such as reports, minutes, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings as well as speeches, sermons, and background notes. However, one of the strengths of the collection lies with the letters written by the Peabody Education Fund's first general agent, Barnas Sears, to Robert C. Winthrop, 1867-1881. Also useful are the letters Curry received when he was general agent of the Peabody Education Fund. There is a particularly interesting group of letters to Curry from William H. Payne, Chancellor of the Peabody Normal College at the University of Nashville (Tenn.). Although most of the records in the Curry Family Papers document Jabez L. M. Curry's involvement as an agent for both the Peabody Education Fund and the John F. Slater Fund, 1881 to 1903, there are a few personal letters addressed to his wife, Mary, and his father, William. William Curry was a successful planter in Ga., and, later, in Talladega, Ala. to which the Curry family moved in 1838.
Papers:
In the Alabama Governor administrative files, 1819-1899, 2 cubic feet.
In A. B. Moore's files there is a letter from J. L. M. Curry that recommends John Pelham for a commission in the state forces in 1861.
Papers:
In the Alabama Governor (1857-1861: A.B. Moore) administrative files, 1857-1861, 0.5 cubic foot.
A letter to Moore from U.S. Congressman J.L.M. Curry discusses the Dred Scott decision, Stephen A. Douglas, William Seward, and states' rights.
Papers:
In the Alabama Governor executive documents, 1869-1902, 2 cubic feet.
Other authors include J.L.M. Curry.
Papers:
In the Alabama Governor (1861-1863: Shorter) Pardons, Paroles, and Clemency files, 1862-1863, 0.2 cubic foot.
Persons represented include J.L.M. Curry. A container list is available in the repository.
Papers:
In the Alabama Secretary of State incoming letters, 1847-1860, 1.3 cubic feet.
Other authors include J.L.M. Curry. A container list is available in the repository.
Duke University
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections
Library
Durham, NC
Papers:
ca. 1854-1931, 736 items.
Chiefly letters relating to Jabez L.M. Curry's career in education and diplomacy after the Civil War. Most of the letters were written by Curry to his son Manly Bowie Curry, giving him advice and discussing family matters and political and social questions. Includes two letter books covering the period of his envoyship to Spain and containing comments about Spanish customs and government. Also, a typewritten journal kept by M.B. Curry while serving with the United States Marine Corps in Nicaragua, 1930-1931.
Hyde Park Historical Society
Hyde Park, MA
Papers:
In the Town of Hyde Park Collection, Civil War Archives, ca. 1800's-1900's, approximately 50 linear feet.
The papers include speeches by J.L.M. Curry.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers:
ca. 1637-1939, 6.6 linear feet.
The papers of J.L.M. Curry contain diaries, correspondence, printed matter, clippings, memorabilia, notes and memoranda, documents and legal papers, accounts, lectures and sermons, essays, scrapbook, manuscript of autobiography, speeches, and articles, and catalog of Curry's library. Includes autographs of all U.S. Presidents from George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt, Confederate statesmen, Spanish noblemen, royalty, and writers, jurists, diplomats, educators, historians, scientists, reformers, artists, statesmen, literary figures, clergymen, and military men of the United States and European countries. Reports and other papers concern the Peabody Education Fund, the John F. Slater Fund for the education of African Americans, the Southern Education Board, Curry's studies on Civil War history and the civil government of the Confederacy, and diplomatic matters in Spain. The diaries (1866-1902) and much of the correspondence (1880-1903) relate to Curry's career as an educator, diplomat, and Baptist minister. Correspondents include William Aiken, James B. Angell, Thomas F. Bayard, William A. Courtenay, William M. Evarts, Hamilton Fish, Melville W. Fuller, Moses Coit Gilman, Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel A. Green, Henry R. Jackson, Theodore Lyman, James D. Porter, Eben S. Stearns, Alexander H. H. Stuart, Moses Waddel, Robert C. Winthrop, and others. Correspondents in the autograph collection include Roger Williams (1604?-1683). A finding aid is available in the library.
Microfilm:
1786-1903, 4 microfilm reels.
Papers relating to J.L.M. Curry's ministry to Spain (1885-1888, 1902), to his activities in the field of education in Alabama, and with the Peabody Fund, the Slater Fund, and the Southern Education Board. Microfilm of originals in the Alabama Department of Archives and History (Montgomery).
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Fremont, OH
Microfilm:
In the Correspondence of Robert C. Winthrop, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Samuel A. Green, 1884-1902, amount unknown.
The papers contain a folder of letter with J.L.M. Curry, Sept. 15, 1884-Oct. 13, 1902.
Microfilm:
1881-1884, 2 microfilm reels.
Chiefly letters relating to Jabez L.M. Curry's career in education and diplomacy after the Civil War. Includes "A Baptist Church Radically Different from Pedobaptist Churches" no. 143, by Curry. Reel 2 begins with University of Nashville State Normal College Regulations, etc. Original letters are in the Library of Congress.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, KY
Microfilm:
1848-1899, 1 volume.
Letters of J.L.M. Curry, 1848-1899.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Southern Historical Collection
Chapel Hill, NC
Papers:
1890-1903, 6 items.
Two letters from Grover Cleveland, and one each from James Bryce and Wade Hampton, to J.L.M. Curry concerning Curry's work with the Slater Fund for the education of freedmen. Also included are a description of an incident in the Confederate Congress, written by Curry, and a hymn written for his memorial service.
University of Pennsylvania
Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
In the Henry Charles Lea papers, 1888-1893, 17 items.
Correspondents include J.L.M. Curry. Includes a letter dated February 13, 1888 from J.L.M. Curry to Francis Wharton.
Vanderbilt University
Special Collections, Jean and Alexander Heard
Library
Nashville, TN
Papers:
In the James D. Porter papers, 1902, 1 item.
The collection contains one item of correspondence written to Dr. J.L.M. Curry and dated Dec. 22, 1902.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Alderman, Edwin A., and Armistead Gordon. J.L.M. Curry: A Biography. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1911.
Chodes, John J. Destroying the republic: Jabez Curry and the re-education of the old south. New York: Algora Pub., 2005.
Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe. Address delivered February 6th, 1885, by Hon. J. L. M. Curry ... in response to an invitation extended in a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives of Alabama. Montgomery: Barrett & Co., printers, 1885.
------. Address delivered October 31st, 1893, by Hon. J.L.M. Curry, general agent of the Peabody and Slater Funds, in response to an invitation of the General Assembly of Georgia. Atlanta, Ga.: G.W. Harrison, State Printer, 1893.
------. Admission of Kansas. [Washington: Printed at the Congressional Globe Office, 1858].
------. A brief sketch of George Peabody. Cambridge, [Mass.]: University Press, 1898.
------. Civil history of the government of the Confederate States, with some personal reminiscences. Richmond, Va.: B.F. Johnson Publishing Company, 1901.
------. Constitutional government in Spain, a sketch. New York: Harper & brothers, 1889.
------. The Constitutional rights of the states: Speech of J. L. M. Curry of Alabama in the House of Representatives, March 14, 1860. [Washington]: McGill, [1860?].
------. Difficulties, complications, and limitations connected with the education of the Negro. Baltimore: The Trustees, 1895.
------. Diplomatic services of George William Erving, by Hon. J. L. M. Curry, LL. D. Communicated to the Massachusetts Historical Society. With an introd. by Robert C. Winthrop. Cambridge, [Mass.]: J. Wilson, 1890.
------. Education of the Negroes since 1860. Baltimore: The Trustees, 1894.
------. Legal justification of the South in secession. Atlanta, Ga.: N.p., 1899.
------. Lessons of the Yorktown centennial. Address of the Hon. J.L.M. Curry, LL. D., delivered in Richmond, on 22d October, 1881. Richmond: Dispatch Steam Printing House, 1881.
------. Perils and duty of the South. Substance of a speech delivered by Jabez L. M. Curry, in Talladega, Alabama, November 26, 1860. [Washington, Printed by L. Towers, 1860].
------. Principles, acts and utterances of John C. Calhoun, promotive of the true union of the states. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1898.
------. Richard Winn. N.p., n.d.
------. Session of the Alabama Legislature. 1847-1848. Washington, D.C.: The Society, 1892.
------. The South in the olden time. Harrisburg, Pa.: Harrisburg Pub. Co., 1901.
------. The Southern States of the American Union considered in their relations to the Constitution of the United States and to the resulting Union. New York [etc.]: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1894.
------. Speech of J. L. M. Curry, of Alabama, on the bill granting pensions to the soldiers of the war of 1812. Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 27, 1858. [Washington: L. Towers, printer, 1858].
------. Speech of J. L. M. Curry, of Alabama, on the election of speaker, and the progress of anti-slaveryism. Washington: Printed by L. Towers, 1859.
------. Struggles and triumphs of Virginia Baptists [microform]. Philadelphia: Bible and Publication Society, [1873].
------. William Ewart Gladstone. Richmond: B. F. Johnson, 1891.
Kellam, W. Porter. "Reminiscences of Franklin College, by Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, Class of 1843. With a Biographical Sketch of the Author and Notes." Georgia Historical Quarterly 69 (Summer 1985): 211-28.
Long, Durward. "Alabama's Secession Commissioners." Civil War History 9 (March 1963): 55-66.
Rice, Jessie Pearl. J.L.M. Curry, Southerner, Statesman and Educator. New York: King's Crown Press, 1949.