Finding Aid to the Curtin Family Collection MS.648
Holly Rose Larson
Library and Archives at the Autry
2012 October 29
210 South Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
rroom@theautry.org
Contributing Institution:
Library and Archives at the Autry
Title: Curtin Family Collection
Creator:
Curtin, L. S. M. (Leonora Scott Muse)
Creator:
Paloheimo, Leonora Curtin
Identifier/Call Number: MS.648
Physical Description:
0.3 Linear Feet
(1 box, 1 oversized folder)
Date (inclusive): 1922-1981
Abstract: This collection includes materials by or collected by Leonora Muse Curtin (1879-1972) and Leonora Curtin Paloheimo (1903-1999),
the daughter and granddaughter, respectively, of renowned Southwest and California painter Eva Scott Fenyes from 1922-1981.
Materials include correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, sheet music, song lyrics, and publications on topics such
as Native American bracelets, Native American weaving, Pima ethnobotany, and poetry.
Language of Material:
English
.
Correspondence from Leonora Curtin Paloheimo can also be found in MS.1
Charles Fletcher Lummis Manuscript Collection, and correspondence from Leonora Muse Curtain can be found in MS.7
Frederick Webb Hodge Papers.
Leonora S. Muse Curtin (1879-1972) was the daughter of renowned Southwest and California painter Eva Scott Fenyes. Curtin
was a linguist and studied language and culture in India, Switzerland, Morocco, and among Native Americans of the Southwest.
Curtin's daughter, also named Leonora Curtin (1903-1999) shared her mother's interest in the Southwest, and together the two
designed and built an adobe-style home in La Cienega, New Mexico in 1931 and named it El Rancho de las Golondrinas. The younger
Curtin married Yrjo Alfred Paloheimo and took his last name in 1946.
This collection includes materials by or collected by Leonora Muse Curtin and Leonora Curtin Paloheimo from 1922-1981. Materials
include correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, sheet music, song lyrics, and publications. Topics covered in these
materials include Native American bracelets, Native American weaving, Pima ethnobotany, and poetry. Manuscripts include original
artwork and notes for a manuscript entitled "Santos of New Mexico: a review of the literature and bibliography with a key
to identify the painters" by E. Boyd, 1947; a manuscript for a publication entitled "New Mexican Folk Melodies from the Collection
of Leonora Curtin" transcribed by J. W. Robb; and a manuscript entitled "The Story and Songs of Los Pastores (Agua Fria Version),"
Collected, Condensed, and Translated by the Federal Writers' Project of New Mexico, presented by the Santa Fe Unit of the
Federal Music Project of New Mexico, Sponsored by the New Mexico Writers' Guild on Christmas Day, 1938. Some song lyrics in
this collection are in Spanish. The tall folder contains a clipping on El Rancho de las Golondrinas from 1973.
Curtin Family Collection, 1922-1981, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.648; [folder number] [folder
title][date].
Processed by Library staff, after 1981. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist, 2012 October
29, made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is
given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit
https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Manuscripts
Clippings
Songs -- Texts
Sheet music
Indians of North America -- Bracelets
Translations
El Alisal (Lummis Home, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Navajo Indians
Santos
Folk songs
Cienega Village Living Museum
Poetry
Drawings
Transcripts
Correspondence
Rancho de las Golondrinas
Ethnobotany
Pima Indians
Indian textiles
Pima Indians -- Ethnobotany
Indian poetry
Artwork
Santos of New Mexico: a review of the literature and bibliography with a key to identify the painters
New Mexican Folk Melodies from the Collection of Leonora Curtin
Story and Songs of Los Pastores (Agua Fria Version)
Curtin Family