Arizona Historical Society

United States Arizona  Archives and Libraries  Arizona Historical Society Library

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:AHSTucson@azhs.gov AHSTucson@azhs.gov]

Address:


 * 949 E. 2nd Street
 * Tucson, AZ 85719

Telephone: 520-628-5774

Hours and holidays: Tuesday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Research Library is closed for state holidays.

Directions, maps, and public transportation: {Optional}

Internet sites and databases:


 * Arizona Historical Society visit AHS museums, education and programs, research collections, membership, publications, about, and events.
 * Repository catalog online.
 * Repository database.
 * other(s).

Collection Description
The Arizona Historical Society Library has a Mexican and an early Arizona collection, Colorado River topics, manuscripts 1860-present, oral histories, maps, and photos. Their excellent genealogical collection is run by one of America's most active historical societies.

History. The Arizona Historical Society (AHS) is Arizona’s oldest historical agency established by an Act of the First Territorial Legislature on 7 November 1864. The First Arizona Territorial Legislature whose members drafted the Territory’s code of laws realized they were making history and that it was important to preserve a record of their activities. One of their earliest actions was to create the means for documenting the past and recording contemporary events as they unfolded. This became the Arizona Historical Society, formed to collect and preserve “all facts relating to the history of this Territory.”

Tips
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Guides
{''Optional: Internet or guide books describing this collection for genealogists. ''}

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * National Archives—Pacific Region (Riverside), CA. Federal court records and federal agencies in Arizona.
 * State Library, Phoenix, has a large book/periodical collection including immigration, vital records, courts, wills, county histories, and Internet sites. The  starting place for AZ family history research.
 * State Archives, Phoenix, marriages, wills and probates, civil and criminal records, brands, taxes, coroner records, voting registers, prisoners, state agencies, maps, newspapers, photos.
 * Bancroft Library, Univ. Calif. Berkeley Early settlers, migration trails, stagecoaches, miners, and histories. They probably have more Arizona historical material than any repository in Arizona.
 * Southwest Museum Braun Research Library, Los Angeles, CA. Includes the Monk Library of Arizoniana, California and Arizona history, and records of southwest American Indians.

Similar Collections


 * Family History Library, Salt Lake City, has many Arizona cemeteries, census, church, court, histories, immigration, land, military, and naturalization records on microfilm.

Neighboring Collections


 * Mesa FamilySearch Library, Mesa, 81,000 microfilms including AZ censuses, 40,000 books (many local histories), 129 public computers, and over 90 classes and workshops per month.
 * Arizona State University Library, Tempe, a good place to look for early Arizona families.
 * Phoenix Public Library, Burton Barr Central Library The Arizona history collection is a good place for genealogy research.
 * West Valley Genealogical Society, Youngstown, an active society with a good little library. Probably represents outside Arizona better because of retirees who contribute from all around the U.S.
 * Maricopa County Office of Vital Registration births 1950-present; and deaths.
 * Maricopa County Superior Court Clerk marriages, criminal, civil, divorces, probate and tax court cases.
 * Maricopa County Recorder's Office land and mortgage records 1871-present.
 * U.S. District Court civil, criminal, appellate, and bankruptcy cases.
 * Maricopa Historical Society, Wickenburg, exhibits and publications.
 * Arizona Jewish Historical Society, Phoenix, exhibits and genealogical classes.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: Gila, La Paz, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai, and Yuma.
 * University of Arizona Special Collections, Tucson, materials on Arizona, Southwest American history, and the U.S./Mexico Borderlands, including rare books, manuscripts, and photographs.
 * Northern Arizona University Cline Library, Flagstaff, includes Arizona history, Arizona photographs, archives, and oral histories.
 * Pima County Public Library, Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Tucson, the Arizona collection, and the Southern Arizona Genealogical Society collection are housed here.
 * Repositories in surrounding states (or nations): California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah; in Mexico: Baja California, Sonora, and Mexico.
 * California State Archives, Sacramento, has county records of the state, such as court records, prison records, wills, deeds, as well as military records, state census records, and school records.
 * Nevada State Library and Archives, Carson City, births, marriages, deaths, censuses, military.
 * New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, Santa Fe, government records since 1621, manuscripts, Catholic church records, census, wills, family histories, letters, diaries, maps, photos.
 * Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City, newspaper, death, land, court, history, naturalization, military, directories, criminals.
 * Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico City, church, civil, census, court, history, military, migration, land.