The John Spencer Curtis papers include X folders of manuscripts and photographs and two scrapbooks, plus Curtis' football cap with a stylized UM FBT decal.
Volume 1 of the scrapbooks includes clippings on Curtis and Michigan football from The Michigan Daily, as well as Detroit, Chicago, and other newspapers; photographs of Michigan football and track and field, of Phi Delta Theta and other fraternity houses, campus social activities and student organization, as well as more personal photos of Curtis and his friends and classmates. It also dance cards, concert and theatrical programs; pins, and other memorabilia of student life.
Volume 2, which may have been compiled by Mattie Gibson, includes material on Curtis as well as a section on Gibson with items from her time as a student at Centennial High School and University of Colorado.
Volume 1 includes several blackface images related to a U-M campus production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the "County Fair" parade of 1905. Volume 2 includes a photo of men in apparent 'yellowface" costume in the Mattie Gibson section.
The manuscripts include a booklet from a 1959 Kansas City Alumni Association chapter banquet honoring Curtis, miscellaneous articles by or about Curtis and material related to his participation in the University's $55 Million fundraising campaign in conjunction the 1967 sesquicentennial celebration. There is also a folder of portraits and other photographs.
John Spencer Curtis (also known as Joe Curtis) was a University of Michigan student-athlete, winning varsity letters in football (1903-1906) and track and field (1905-1906) and was captain of the 1906 football team. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and was an active participant in campus social life and other organizations including Vulcans, Michigamua, and Friars. He graduated from the College of Engineering in 1908 with a B.A. in chemical engineering. Curtis was a college football coach for three years before embarking on a long career with the Continental Oil company.
Curtis was born November 18, 1882 in Oregon, Missouri to Oliver and Catherine Bucher Curtis. The family moved to Pueblo, Colorado where Oliver operated a hotel. John Spencer was a star athlete at Centennial High School.
Curtis enrolled at Michigan in 1903 and as a freshman was selected for the varsity squad, starting all eleven games at the tackle position. He played four seasons on Coach Fielding Yost's "point-a-minute" teams that compiled a 37-2-1 record and outscored opponents 1,699 to 60. In an era when tackles were frequently ball-carriers, Curtis scored 36 career touchdowns and kicked 82 extra points. Curtis started every game of his career except the last against Pennsylvania, which he missed due to a broken leg suffered in practice. He was named to the all-conference team in 1904, 1905, and 1906 and was named to Walter Camp's All-American second team in 1904 and 1905.
Curtis was member of the engineering class of 1907, though he did not receive his degree until June of 1908 due to having to make up course work missed while spending more than a month in the hospital with his broken leg.
Curtis was head football coach at Tulane University for two season, 1907 and 1908, compiling a 10-3 record. The following year he coached Colorado College of Mines to a 3-3 record. In 1910 Cutis began working for the Continental Oil Company advancing through several management and executive position in Denver and Kansas City. He was an active member of the University of Michigan Alumni Association and was honored at a banquet of the Kansas City chapter in 1959. He worked on the $55 Million fundraising campaign at the time of the university sesquicentennial.
Curtis married Martha N. "Mattie" Gibson of Pueblo on September 28, 1910. They had one daughter, Gratia Marie Curtis Williams. Mattie Gibson Curtis died December 8, 1959. John Spencer Curtis died January 30, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri.
