1880-2025
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
Curtis Club records created after 31 December 1971 are CLOSED until 50 years from their creation, EXCEPT to current officers and members of the club. Closed records will be opened in five-year increments, beginning on 1 January 2027, when records created before 1 January 1977 will be open.
This collection is stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
There are restrictions on the use of this collection. Users must sign an agreement stating that they understand these restrictions before they will be given access to the collection.
Abstract
This collection consists of the records of the Curtis Club of Boston, Massachusetts, a private social club for lawyers and judges founded in 1880.
Historical Sketch
The Curtis Club of Boston, Massachusetts, was founded on 19 November 1880 as a men's law club "for the mutual benefit of its members, intellectually and socially." Its name came from Massachusetts judge Benjamin Robbins Curtis, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court and famously wrote the dissent in the Dred Scott case. The eight original founders of the club were all graduates of the Boston University School of Law: Henry P. Barbour, Eugene L. Buffinton, George S. Forbush, J. Frank Paul, William E. Russell, John E. Wetherbee, Charles W. Whitcomb, and William A. Whiting.
Monthly dinner meetings of the Curtis Club are held from October to May. These dinners were held at Young's Hotel in Boston until the hotel closed in 1927. The club then met at the Parker House for many years and now meets at the Union Club. In the club's first few years, members read papers on legal subjects, but that practice eventually stopped, and the dinners became primarily social occasions. Membership consists of lawyers, judges, and law school professors who are elected and pay dues. Membership is currently limited to 40, but in the past the club was smaller. Officers include a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer, who all serve one-year terms before rotating out.
The first female members of the Curtis Club were elected in December 1984.
Sources
The Curtis Club: An Account of Its Fiftieth Anniversary, November 18, 1930, Together with the List of Members and the By-Laws and Rules. Boston: Privately printed, 1930.
Collection Description
This collection consists of the records of the Curtis Club of Boston, Massachusetts, primarily monthly meeting minutes, including by-laws, lists of members, readings, correspondence, dinner menus, memorials, and other material. Also included is a manuscript biography of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, for whom the club was named. The collection also contains correspondence between officers and members of the club; an account book of dues assessed and expenses; and printed matter, including histories of the club. Among the members and officers represented in the collection are George Sumner Forbush, Everett Watson Burdett, Felix Rackemann, John Adams Aiken, Melvin Ohio Adams, and Louis Dembitz Brandeis.
Acquisition Information
Deposited by the Curtis Club, August 2016, with additions, June 2018 and August 2025.
Restrictions on Access
Curtis Club records created after 31 December 1971 are CLOSED until 50 years from their creation, EXCEPT to current officers and members of the club. Closed records will be opened in five-year increments, beginning on 1 January 2027, when records created before 1 January 1977 will be open.
This collection is stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
There are restrictions on the use of this collection. Users must sign an agreement stating that they understand these restrictions before they will be given access to the collection.
Restrictions on Use
The records of the Curtis Club have been placed on deposit at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Massachusetts Historical Society does not claim ownership of the literary rights (copyright) to letters and manuscripts written by individuals in this collection. The Massachusetts Historical Society cannot give permission to publish or quote from documents to which it does not hold copyright. Use of these materials does not imply permission to publish. It is the sole responsibility of the researcher to obtain formal permission from the owners of the literary rights (copyright) to publish or quote from documents in this collection.
All reproductions, including photocopies and digital photographs, are for personal use only. Personal use copies may not be donated to or deposited in other libraries or archives, or made available to other researchers, without the written permission of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Meeting minutes, 1880-1971
Arranged chronologically.
This series, which makes up the bulk of the collection, consists of minutes of the monthly meetings of the Curtis Club from October to May, beginning with its founding in 1880, kept by the club secretary. Annual meetings are held in January. Included are by-laws and rules, lists of members, members proposed, votes, readings, correspondence, dinner menus, memorials, accounts, clippings, and other material, as well as a 26-page biographical sketch of Benjamin R. Curtis written by the first club president George Sumner Forbush, 17 December 1880, and a typescript history of the Curtis Club written by Everett Watson Burdett, 20 January 1893.
Miscellaneous records of meetings include undated lists of members, undated poems and other readings, notes by Felix Rackemann and others, historical material about the club, and other papers.
1880-1952
1953-1966
1967-1971
Included are monthly meeting minutes, financial reports, printed matter, correspondence, readings, memorials, and lists of members.
Miscellaneous records of meetings, 1880-1942 and undated
II. Correspondence, 1885-1966
This series contains correspondence to and/or from members and officers of the Curtis Club discussing meetings, dues, and other membership matters, as well as thank you letters. Included are letters removed from a disbound binder, arranged alphabetically; a folder of miscellaneous letters arranged chronologically; a volume of typed transcripts of personal letters from John Adams Aiken to Melvin Ohio Adams, both club members; and correspondence, receipts, and other papers of club treasurer Louis Dembitz Brandeis.
Loose correspondence, 1889-1938
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Loose correspondence, 1933-1966
Arranged chronologically.
"Letters of John Adams Aiken to Melvin Ohio Adams," 1885-1918
Papers of Louis D. Brandeis, 1885-1888
Arranged chronologically.
III. Account book, 1880-1919
This volume, kept by various treasurers of the Curtis Club, includes accounts of member dues assessed, as well as expenses for dinners, printing, etc.
IV. Printed matter, 1887-1930
This series contains two copies of the Curtis Club's 50th anniversary history, printed in 1930, both with post-1930 manuscript annotations about members. Also included are pamphlets related to the club and menus for dinners, some with manuscript notes.
The Curtis Club: An Account of Its Fiftieth Anniversary, November 18, 1930, Together with the List of Members and the By-Laws and Rules (Boston: Privately printed, 1930)
2 copies.Pamphlets, etc., 1891-1918
Arranged chronologically.
Menus, 1887-1917 (with gaps)
Arranged chronologically.
V. Post-1971 records, 1972-2025
1972-1976
CLOSED to researchers, EXCEPT current officers and members of the club, until 1 Jan. 2027.
1977-2018 (unprocessed; part 1)
CLOSED to researchers, EXCEPT current officers and members of the club, until 50 years from their creation and opened in five-year increments.
1977-2025 (unprocessed; part 2)
CLOSED to researchers, EXCEPT current officers and members of the club, until 50 years from their creation and opened in five-year increments.
Preferred Citation
Curtis Club records, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Subjects:
Materials Removed from the Collection
Photographs from this collection have been removed to the Curtis Club photographs (Photo. Coll. 307 oversize).