CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

W. G. Curtis

American mayor

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ7945552 ↗
Source-derived summary

W. G. Curtis was a farmer and politician in the U.S. state of Wyoming in the late 19th century, having served in the Wyoming State Legislature representing Laramie County.

Curtis is credited with founding the town of Torrington, Wyoming. The first post office was built in 1889 on the western part of Curtis's farm, approximately a mile from the current town. Curtis, serving as the first postmaster, named the town after Torrington, Connecticut, where he and his family had formerly lived. Curtis was also mayor of Torrington for two terms and served in the Wyoming State Legislature in 1903.

Editorial summary

“W. G. Curtis” enters the record as american mayor. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Curtis, American and mayor can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1889, 1903—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Curtis, American and mayor.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“W. G. Curtis” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Curtis, American and mayor provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7945552. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1889 and 1903.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “W. G. Curtis”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow W. G. Curtis primary sources, W. G. Curtis archive and Curtis research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “W. G. Curtis”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “W. G. Curtis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.