Jim Curley has spent his career wearing many hats, from photographer and editor to educator and archivist, but he has always been a champion for the values of photojournalism. As a photographer, he worked at the St. Joseph News-Press and the Columbia Daily Tribune before joining the Agricultural Editors office at the University of Missouri.
Curley also had an active freelance photography career, covering state and national politics and sports for Agence France Press and others. At MU, he taught in the Agricultural Journalism program for 15 years and mentored numerous students while working in the Ag. office. For 10 years, he has volunteered with the Angus and Betty McDougall Center for Photojournalism Studies to edit, advise and display numerous exhibits.
Always generous with his talents, for 18 years he has also been the co-director of the Missouri Photo Workshop, providing leadership in refining the educational approach of the workshop. He has become a stalwart historian of MPW, utilizing physical and digital records to enhance the workshop experience and promote it to the photojournalism community and beyond. His dedication to photojournalism has also extended to the Photojournalism Hall of Fame itself, for which he has been a staunch supporter and volunteer since its inception in 2005, including doing much of the printing for the yearly exhibit.