Henry Lowndes Maury was born in 1875 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Matthew and Lydia Maury. He attended the University of Virginia and graduated in 1894 with a degree in history. In 1896 Maury began practicing law in Butte, Montana. In the course of his sixty-three year career in law he was an associate of William Y. Pemberton, John L. Templeman, Burton K. Wheeler before 1923, federal judge James T. Baldwin, and A.G. Shone and Sylvester Sullivan. In the early years of his career Maury represented the Montana Power Company, but became a vocal opponent of the Company as well as the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Maury served as Butte City Attorney from 1911 to 1913 and represented Silver Bow County in the Montana House of Representatives as a Republican during the eighteenth Legislative Assembly (1923). He was also a member of the Silver Bow County school board. During the latter part of World War II Maury coordinated relief for the U.S.S.R. in Montana. Maury switched to the Democratic Party and was a committed advocate of F.D. Roosevelt and the programs of his administration. He was very involved in the Democratic Party and politics until he died on January 14, 1959. He corresponded with and was a strong supporter of Senator James E. Murray. Maury also supported Leif Erickson for U.S. senator in 1946, and Henry A. Wallace for President in 1948. He opposed the Marshall Plan, foreign aid, the development of nuclear weapons, the Korean War, the Eisenhower Administration, and was a vociferous detractor of Burton K. Wheeler after Wheeler turned to isolationism and America First. Although Maury voted for Mike Mansfield, he blamed Mansfield for the United States' disastrous Asian policy and regarded him as having a slick image with little substance. Maury married Ann H. Perkins in 1898; they had seven children.
Papers. .5 linear foot 1905, 1914, 1938-1959, n.d. This collection is divided into six series: general correspondence, miscellaneous correspondence; legal documents; printed materials; writings; and miscellany. The bulk of the general correspondence (1914, 1938-1959) is outgoing. Primary correspondents include Senator James E. Murray and Miles Romney. Other correspondents include Harry Billings, author John Gunther, Henry A. Wallace, and Leif Erickson. The sole piece of correspondence from 1914 is a telegram from Maury to the clerk of the Supreme Court stating his belief that the 1907 session laws concerning military affairs were no longer in force. The rest of the general correspondence presents Maury's views on Democratic Party politics in Montana and national and international issues of the 1940s and 1950s. The miscellaneous correspondence consists of one letter (1905) written by Ann Maury to Supreme Court Justice George R. Milburn urging his rapid decision in the "Nipper Case". The legal documents series consists of an apology (1905) to the Supreme Court by Maury for an objectionable petition for the rehearing of a case. The writings series (1940-1959) includes articles written for The People's Voice and other writings, concerning Montana, national, and international politics and issues of the 1940s and 1950s. The miscellany series contains some genealogical information, a pro-Leif Erickson anti-Burton K. Wheeler speech by Lou Boedecker, a campaign brochure for Henry A. Wallace, and a receipt from the Progressive Party. Printed material has been separated to the Library.
by series
available upon request
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection