Curtis, Charlemaud

Charlemaud Curtis was a music librarian at the University of New Mexico Fine Arts Library from the 1950s to the 1980s. In addition to her work in the Library, Charlemaude went out into the countryside and taped a variety of music performances, programs and interviews. She came from an old Clovis, New Mexico family. Her mother was a teacher in Eastern New Mexico schools and her father, Charles A. Curtis, was a well-known veterinarian and cattle inspector, hence her knowledge and interest in pioneer life and early music in New Mexico. Curtis graduated from Albuquerque High in 1940. She received her Bachelor’s in Education at UNM in 1946. She played the piano, sang in local choirs and lived in the East Heights of Albuquerque. She also taught music among the Indians of New Mexico.

Curtis was working at UNM during the time that Donald L. Roberts was Head of the Fine Arts Library (1963–1968). Roberts was the first part-time, unfunded, unofficial director of an emerging collection of field recordings that came to be called the Archive of Southwest Music. The beginning and core of the music archive were the folk music recordings, compositions, and papers donated to the UNM Fine Arts Library by John Donald Robb upon his retirement in 1957. Donald L. Roberts established the Archive of Southwestern Music by name in 1964 to preserve Robb’s collection. Roberts continued to gather material to preserve the musical heritage of New Mexico and the Southwest until he left UNM in 1968. Helping in the endeavor was Charlemaud Curtis. In September 1971, James Wright joined UNM as the Assistant Head of the Fine Arts Librarian. In the 1970s and 1980s, Curtis and Wright continued to collect field recording. This collection represents the work done by Curtis, who was also involved with some of the material in Wright’s collection.

Wright saw the need for a full-time archivist for the UNM Archive of Southwestern Music and funds to cover traveling, recording and processing expenses. In 1981, at a ceremony held in Keller Hall, UNM celebrated the renaming of the Archive of Southwestern Music as the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music, with Wright named as Director. Charlemaud Curtis became the Associate Director. Although no funding was included. Wright and Curtis continued their recordings with occasional small funds from the General Library. They were the last to do field work for the Southwest music archive.

From the guide to the Charlemaud Curtis Collection of Southwestern Music, Interviews and Programs, 1960-1987, (University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research)