Curtis, Albert, 1897-1969

Born in Ohio in 1897, Albert Curtis came to Texas in 1933 after periods of residence in New Orleans, Louisiana, and North Carolina. A visit to the Alamo soon after his arrival sparked an interest in Texas history, an avocation he would pursue for the remainder of his life.

After two years residence at the Veterans Administration hospital in Legion, Texas (now part of the town of Kerrville), Curtis moved to San Antonio, taking a room a short distance from the Alamo. After several years convalescence, he secured a civil service position, working first in the Office of Censorship during World War II and continuing as a civilian employee at Fort Sam Houston and Kelly Air Force Base.

Much of Curtis' spare time was devoted to research on Texas history, particularly the Alamo and William Barret Travis. He apparently gained his first professional writing experience in New Orleans in the 1920s, where he published pamphlets and short articles on local history, usually under the pen name "Stephen Curtis West." After his move to San Antonio he published Military San Antonio, a World War II-era guide to the city for military personnel containing chapters on historic events and places and sketches of the military history of the city. He expanded upon this work in a more ambitious project, Fabulous San Antonio, published by the Naylor Company of San Antonio in 1955. The book added detail on the events, places, and people of San Antonio, with an emphasis on the colorful episodes of city history and its prominent citizens and visitors.

While his published output in the area was relatively small, the subject that occupied much of Curtis's research time was the Battle of the Alamo and the commander of the Texan defenders, William Barret Travis. A tireless researcher, Curtis sought out and reviewed primary sources from libraries, archives, and private collections in Texas and beyond. His written output suggests an ambition to complete a full-length treatment of the battle or a Travis biography; a portion of his output was published in two illustrated pamphlets Remember the Alamo and Remember the Alamo Heroes, both privately-printed in 1961. The former incorporated some of Curtis' research on Travis, James Butler Bonham, and the Battle of the Alamo; the latter presented documentary information on the other Texan defenders of the Alamo. Curtis continued to revise and rearrange his chapters on the subject, and his correspondence indicates he sought a publisher for a larger work, but much of what he produced remained unpublished.

Albert Curtis died in San Antonio on 1969 September 25. His papers were willed to Octavia West Jones, who later donated them to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library. Evidence indicates that some of the Curtis papers remained in her possession and were dispersed upon her death.