Chapman, Berlin B. "Charles Curtis and the Kaw Reservation."Kansas Historical Quarterly 15 (November 1947): 337-51.
CURTIS, Charles
1860–1936
Biography
CURTIS, Charles, A Representative and a Senator from Kansas and a Vice President of the United States; born in Topeka, Kans., January 25, 1860; attended the common schools; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1881 and commenced practice in Topeka; prosecuting attorney of Shawnee County 1885-1889; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1893, until January 28, 1907, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-seventh Congresses); had been reelected to the Sixtieth Congress, but on January 23, 1907, was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican to fill the vacancy in the term ending March 3, 1907, caused by the resignation of Joseph R. Burton, and on the same day was elected for the full Senate term commencing March 4, 1907, and served from January 29, 1907, to March 3, 1913; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Sixty-second Congress; Republican Conference secretary (1911-1913); chairman, Committee on Indian Depredations (1905-11), Committee on Coast Defenses (1911-13), Republican Conference (1924-1929); again elected to the United States Senate for the term commencing March 4, 1915; reelected in 1920 and 1926 and served from March 4, 1915, until his resignation on March 3, 1929, having been elected Vice President of the United States; Republican whip 1915-1924; majority leader 1925-1929; elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket headed by Herbert Hoover in 1928, was inaugurated on March 4, 1929, and served until March 3, 1933; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1932 for Vice President; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., where he died on February 8, 1936; interment in Topeka Cemetery, Topeka, Kans.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
Herbert Hoover Library
West Branch, IA
Papers:
1928. 1 folder. Copies of material at Kansas State Historical Society. Describes Curtis' unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1928.
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka, KS
Papers:
1892-1932. 5 inches. Includes personal and business correspondence, photographs, and a typed copy of an autobiography.
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
Papers:
August 20, 1930; April 22, 1931. 2 letters.
Stanford University Libraries
Special Collections
Stanford, CA
Papers:
1 microfilm reel of originals (1863-1933) in Kansas State Historical Society.
U.S. Army Military History Institute
Carlisle Barracks, PA
Papers:
Letter (1902) to Curtis applying for a commission in the regular army in Samuel T. Jones papers, 1898-1902.
University of Arkansas
Special Collections
Fayetteville, AR
Papers:
Correspondence in Hattie Caraway papers, ca. 1884-1950.
University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library
Ann Arbor, MI
Papers:
Correspondence in Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg papers, 1884-1974; Chase Salmon Osborn papers, 1889-1949; and Rudolph Edward Reichert papers, 1907-1962. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers:
In Charles Dewey Hilles papers, 1885-1955.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Curtis, Charles, and Kitty Frank, ed. In His Own Words: Kansan, Native American, Orphan, Jockey, Entrepreneur, Attorney, Politician, Senator and Vice President of the United States of America. Self-Published, CreateSpace, 2019.
Duncan, De Witt Clinton. "An Open Letter from Too-Qua-Stee to Congressman Charles Curtis, 1898." Chronicles of Oklahoma 47 (Autumn 1969): 298-311.
Ewy, Martin. "Charles Curtis of Kansas, Vice-President of the United States, 1929-1933." Emporia State Research Studies 10 (December 1961): 5-58.
O'Brien, Patrick G. "Validity of Historical Characterizations: Capper and Curtis." Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 48 (March 1968): 624-31.
Schlup, Leonard. "Charles Curtis: The Vice-President from Kansas." Manuscripts 35 (Summer 1983): 183-201.
Seitz, Don Carlos. From Kaw Teepee to Capitol: The Life Story of Charles Curtis, Indian, Who Has Risen to High Estate. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1928.
Unrau, William E. "Charles Curtis: The Politics of Allottment." In Indian Lives: Essays on Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Native American Leaders, edited by L.G. Moses and Raymond Wilson, pp. 113-38. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985.
___. "The Mixed-Blood Connection: Charles Curtis and Kaw Detribalization." In Kansas and the West: Bicentennial Essays in Honor of Nyle H. Miller, edited by Forrest R. Blackburn, et al., pp. 151-61. Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, 1976.
___. Mixed Bloods and Tribal Dissolution: Charles Curtis and the Quest for Indian Identity. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.