Arizona State Archives

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Arizona State Archives Archives & Records Management, a branch of AZ State Library, a division of the AZ Secretary of State

The State Archives, located in the Polly Rosenbaum Archives and History Building, collects, preserves and makes available to the public and all branches of government, permanent public records, historical manuscripts, photographs and other materials that contribute to the understanding of Arizona history. The Records Management Center administers the management of public records throughout state and local government in Arizona.

Today's picture highlights how native people have been shaping the land in Arizona for centuries. This is an image of Tu...
10/09/2026

Today's picture highlights how native people have been shaping the land in Arizona for centuries. This is an image of Tuzigoot, or Tú Digiz, meaning "crooked waters" in Tonto Apache, located in Clarkdale, AZ. This group of dwellings was constructed by the Sinagua people around 1100 and is estimated by some to contain over a hundred rooms. It was abandoned in the 1300s and not seen again until it was unearthed in the 1930s by workers employed by the Federal Emergency Relief project under the direction of Louis Caywood and Edward Spicer, archeology graduate students from the University of Arizona (Fun fact, they also worked on excavating and stabilizing Tumacácori from yesterday's post) It became a Tuzigoot National Monument on July 25, 1939.

Missionary work played a big role in shaping Arizona's landscape - so today we're highlighting a photo of the ruins at t...
10/08/2026

Missionary work played a big role in shaping Arizona's landscape - so today we're highlighting a photo of the ruins at the Tumacácori mission. Founded in 1691 by Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, the Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori was the first mission to be founded in the Arizona territory. After the O’odham Revolt in 1751, the mission was moved from the east side of the Santa Cruz River to the west side and renamed Mission San José de Tumacácori. By 1757, the mission included only a small adobe church. By 1800, the community had set plans to build a larger church on the site, but the building was never entirely completed and was abandoned in December 1848. It became a National Monument in 1908 and part of the National Park Service in 1916. By 1917 excavation efforts were underway and a roof was installed over the adobe church. Today, guests can enjoy guided tours of the ruins as well as a visitor center containing a museum, bookstore, and short video about the mission.

Going further back in time, even beyond 250 years, to highlight an image of the Casa Grande ruins that's part of our col...
10/08/2026

Going further back in time, even beyond 250 years, to highlight an image of the Casa Grande ruins that's part of our collection here. This is one of the largest prehistoric structures in North America, and we don't really know what the original purpose was, or when it was built, though by 1450, it wasn't in use anymore. In 1694, Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino wrote about it in his journal. Kino described the structure as a “great house,” or “casa grande.” On August 3, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson designated the Casa Grande Ruins as a National Monument. A visitor center was constructed in 1932. Adobe buildings were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s to supplement the park, with all structures now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Have you ever visited this site?

Continuing on with our bridge theme for the poster, courtesy of Tempe History Museum (), here's a super-rare photo of a ...
10/06/2026

Continuing on with our bridge theme for the poster, courtesy of Tempe History Museum (), here's a super-rare photo of a short-lived, but very important bridge across the Salt River, the P&E or Phoenix & Eastern Railroad Bridge in Tempe. The image is from around 1904 and the bridge was the first concrete and steel railroad bridge to cross the Salt River, and one of two bridges in Tempe to cross the river.

The bridge’s superstructure consisted of five steel spans anchored by six massive concrete piers. These piers sat atop of wood piling sunk 70 feet deep into the riverbed. Wooden trestles extended the bridge on both the north and south banks of the river. One of the beneficiaries of the new bridge was the Hayden Flour Mill, which would now have direct access to the railroad.

In March 1905, a massive flood destroyed the concrete pier that anchored the joint between the bridge’s northernmost two steel spans, and both spans were lost in the raging Salt River. Rather than rebuild the lost portions of the new bridge, the Phoenix & Eastern leased the use of their competitor’s wooden 1891-built bridge. What remained of Tempe’s concrete and steel “bridge to nowhere” survived until 1926, when the bridge was finally demolished to make way for the upcoming Mill Avenue automobile bridge, completed in 1931. Just goes to show how nature does not always respect engineering innovation!

Can you spot the historic San Francisco Canal and Papago Park in this image as well?

Continuing on with the poster previews, next up is courtesy of and Winslow Historical Society - shaping the land throug...
10/06/2026

Continuing on with the poster previews, next up is courtesy of and Winslow Historical Society - shaping the land through bridges.
Canyon Diablo is a gorge in the Colorado Plateau 25 miles west of Winslow. Over 200 laborers worked six months to construct the 11 iron stands that supported the single track across the canyon. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad's Canyon Diablo Bridge was considered one of the region’s greatest feats of engineering when it opened in 1882, allowing the transcontinental line along the 35th parallel to cross northern Arizona Territory. A rough town of the same name—full of saloons, gambling dens, and brothels—sprang up during construction, only to disappear once the bridge was complete.

Every October, as part of Archives Month, the Arizona State Archives puts out a poster. This year's theme is 250 years o...
10/02/2026

Every October, as part of Archives Month, the Arizona State Archives puts out a poster. This year's theme is 250 years of shaping the land and we will be revealing and spotlighting the individual submissions and posters from a variety of contributing institutions. First up to be highlighted is from - a photo of a section of canal built by the Casa Grande Valley Water Users Association. Ca. 1920. The people are not identified. Inventory Number: 2004.015.029
Canals have made agriculture in Arizona possible. The canal system was started over 2000 years ago by the Indigenous Tribes in Arizona. Miles of the original canal sites are still being used today.

October kicks off Archives Month, beginning with Electronic Records. Here at the Archives, we do much more than hold ont...
10/01/2026

October kicks off Archives Month, beginning with Electronic Records. Here at the Archives, we do much more than hold onto paper documents! We also archive all matters of digital and electronic media, including websites, and hold on to legacy technology in order to read things like floppy disks - pictured here. To check out some of our archived web pages, check us out on Archive-It at https://archive-it.org/home/ASLAPR. Happy Electronic Records Day!

I like to say that researching or working in an archive is a bit like a treasure hunt - you never know what you're goin...
09/25/2026

I like to say that researching or working in an archive is a bit like a treasure hunt - you never know what you're going to find! Today I'm highlighting some beautiful endpapers found in our old volumes. These are just a few of the beautiful patterns I've come across - which is your favorite?

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, a day that shocked and frightened citizens ar...
09/11/2026

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, a day that shocked and frightened citizens around the nation, including our country's children. Many showed concern for the safety of America and turned to adults to reassure them and make sense of the tragedy. These letters are from Arizonan children to Governor Jane Dee Hull in the aftermath of the attacks, found in her constituent correspondence boxes here at the State Archives, along with her responses to them. Today we remember all those whose lives were lost as we continue to honor their memory and legacy.

We're a little late to the game, but September 1 was National Letter Writing Day! While it may seem archaic now, letter ...
09/04/2026

We're a little late to the game, but September 1 was National Letter Writing Day! While it may seem archaic now, letter writing has been an important way that humans have interacted with each other for centuries. Even if you haven’t put pen to paper in years, mediums such as texting and emailing are still forms of letter writing! Here are a few examples of some of the letters that can be found in the Arizona State Archives. When was the last time you wrote or received a letter?

Address

1901 West Madison Street
Phoenix, AZ
85009

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 12pm
1pm - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 12pm
1pm - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 12pm
1pm - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 12pm
1pm - 4:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 12pm
1pm - 4:30pm

Telephone

(602) 926-3720

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