Individual contributions to the New Students League, 1928-1931, 1936

Series I. “Working women’s clubs” includes minute books, scrapbooks, photographs, clippings and ephemera related to the organization and activities of working women’s clubs. A portion of the material from the late nineteenth century predates Curran's involvement in the organizations. Documentation of the National League of Women Workers (later National League of Girls’ Clubs) consists of issues of The Club Worker, pamphlets, oversize banners, and a 1921 report prepared by Curran summarizing publicity for the club. Most state material pertains to the Pennsylvania Association of Women Workers, which later operated as the Eastern Pennsylvania League of Girls' Clubs. Beginning in 1921, Curran served as Executive Director of the League for nearly seven years. Documentation from that time consists primarily of correspondence, ledgers, newspaper clippings, and ephemera related to the organization's educational efforts. Much of the material focuses on Whitford Lodge, the site of summer programs for the League. Writing and illustrations by Curran are present throughout this series.

Series II. "New Students League and the Little Gallery of Contemporary Art" documents the next phase of Curran's career. With young men expressing an interest in attending League programs, a new club was chartered in 1927 that welcomed male membership. With this change, the new organization withdrew from the National League of Girls' Clubs and began operating as the New Students League. Correspondence deals primarily with the operations, staffing, and fundraising. Communication with individual artists include George Biddle, Leon Kelly, Franklin Watkins, Julius Bloch, and Daniel Rasmusson. Board minutes reveal important decisions and change of leadership for the New Students League. In addition to the educational programs, the League became a venue for exhibitions of modern art, which Curran felt would be a beneficial addition in Philadelphia. After holding two such shows in 1927 and the spring of the following year, Curran made the exhibition space a permanent feature, and on December 8, 1928, the Little Gallery of Contemporary Art opened. In 1930 the gallery relocated, although it remained in center city. Exhibition files are arranged chronologically and consist primarily of artwork checklists, announcements, clippings, invitation lists and some related correspondence, including that with Jose Clemente Orozco. The “Notes” subseries contains the lists of contacts, drafts, and notes related to the New Students League fundraising, mission, and curriculum, created by Curran during her tenure as Director of the League. The bulk of the subseries “Ephemera and clippings” consists of bulletins, exhibition catalogues and checklists, auction and collection catalogs, press releases, and ephemera from art museums, galleries, art institutions and clubs in Philadelphia and New York City, compiled by Curran. Exhibitions held at Macy's, Gimbels, and Wanamaker’s department stores are documented. Also of note is a barter exhibition conducted by the Philadelphia Sketch Club in the early 1930s. The series ends with photographs and copy prints of works of art as well as a few related to the New Students League.

Series III. "Federal Art Project and earlier relief programs" is the largest group of records in the collection and the most complete in documentation of subject. Along with Fiske Kimball, director of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Curran worked on each of the government relief programs funded first through the Civil Works Administration and then the Works Progress Administration. As Clerk and then Regional Director of the first government relief program, the Public Works of Art Program (PWAP), Curran was responsible for selecting Pennsylvania artists who qualified to create works of art for public buildings. Because so many artists lived in the area, Philadelphia served as headquarters for the region, and the Little Gallery served as its physical office space. Over half of the correspondence are requests for project applications and work reports by artists while employed by relief programs, which were sent to Curran on a regular basis (see File notes for artist names). Of interest is Earl Horter’s letter to Mary Curran on behalf of Dox Thrash, whose application can be found under “Artist applications: Never filed. S-Z” in the “Records” subseries. Horter writes that Thrash is experiencing extreme financial hardship and that the quality of his work is above that of an average artist. Also present is communication with Holger Cahill, Director of the Federal Art Project, Thomas C. Parker, Assistant Director of the Federal Art Project, and Anna Lebengood, State Director, Division Women's and Professional Projects under the Pennsylvania WPA. It should be noted that Curran originally filed letters received during the regular course of business expressing appreciation of the project and her work on it as "Friends letters to Edward Jones and Holger Cahill, etc." As noted by the authors, some of these letters were sent intentionally in support of Curran to counter the vocal negative publicity about the project’s administration. The remainder of material includes general business correspondence, as well as a file pertaining to the headquarter relocation to Harrisburg, Curran's transfer to the Pittsburgh office and her termination in 1938.

The Records subseries includes artist applications, many with notations by Curran and Fiske Kimball remarking on the artist’s economic needs or talent, and in some cases commentary on the artist’s race. There are several official reports and annotated drafts, including that of the allocation of the artwork from these projects, identifying the buildings that requested works of art and the artists and titles of works fulfilling those requests. Curran prepared a report summarizing the Federal Art Project’s activities under her leadership from October 1935 to July 1938. Documentation of the Index of American Design, a major program under the FAP, consists of a few reports and notes about ornamental cast iron and Pennsylvania German decorative arts as surveyed respectively by Katherine Milhous and Frances Lichten. The final report along with two files of working papers and a draft are included here. Besides this documentation of the Federal Art Project, a large part of this material focuses on the Federation of Art Workers and the Artists Union Philadelphia who criticized Curran's management, calling for her resignation. Included here is the formal complaint issued by the Artists Union in May 1937, as well as the report submitted in rebuttal.

Clippings in this series parallel the subject of the records and reports, primarily about the art project on a local basis and criticism of the Federal Art Project under Mary Curran and Fiske Kimball. A poster and some newspaper clippings document the exhibition held at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art the following year. The series ends with photographs, including approximately 30 taken of Philadelphia landmarks, buildings and street scenes taken by Charles Ogle, as well as photographs primarily of murals created by Jose Clemente Orozco, Henry Billings and Boardman Robinson. It is unclear if these are works created for the Federal Art Project. Although originally housed in a WPA envelope, the copyprints of works by Albert Pinkham Ryder may have been compiled by Curran for the exhibition she held at the gallery prior to the government projects. Photographs include those from exhibitions held at the Little Gallery and various venues that held Federal Art Project shows. Mary Curran can be seen in several photographs from these gallery receptions.

The final Series IV. "Personal papers," consists primarily of correspondence and sketches. Curran's brother William was her most frequent correspondent. There are five brief letters from Fiske Kimball. In his 1944 correspondence, Kimball reflects on the great pleasure of their collaboration on the FAP, and he reminds her that although "others thought it wiser to yield to the pressure for a new administrator, [this] should not blind you to the fact that your administration was not only the longest but one of the very most successful in any quarter." Other material includes resumes and forms that provide biographical information, a collection of blank greeting cards from the 1930s forward, photographs, and various clippings.