GENEALOGICAL MATERIALS RETAINED IN THE ARIZONA STATE ARCHIVES

Arizona State Capitol
Phoenix, Arizona

Introduction

Records found in the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Arizona Archives and History Division, are varied, vast and full of information. Not all record groups are helpful to genealogical or historical researchers, as the mandate for the Arizona Archives and History Services Division (Arizona Revised Statutes 41-1338) states that:

The Arizona State Library shall contain:

1. All available works, books, newspaper files, pamphlets, papers, manuscripts, documents, magazines and newspaper articles, maps, pictures, items and materials pertaining to or bearing on the history of Arizona.

2. Copies of current official reports, public documents and publications of state, county and municipal officers, departments, boards, commissions, agencies and institutions, and public archives. To permit compliance with this paragraph it is the duty of all public officers required by law to make written reports to the governor, or to the governing officer or body of a county, city or town, to provide those reports, documents and publications to the state library, archives and public records, for filing in the state library archives division, with copies of such reports except those reports, documents and publications that are confidential.

Records most heavily searched in the Arizona Archives and History Services Division have historically been the record groups most recognized by genealogists as having names, places and dates attached to them: federal census reports, state census reports, county marriage records, and probate records. However, a search through some of the finding guides available at the Arizona Archives and History Services Division reveals more record groups than can be imagined! School census marshals’ reports, coroner’s inquests, Board of Trustee minutes, Separate Property of Married Women, Great Registers (Voting registers), and Mining Records are just a sampling of records that are frequently overlooked by the genealogist / historian.

Retention schedules of the various record groups differ between counties and even between states. This survey of retained records that are of interest to genealogists and historians is a sampling of what can be compiled and then displayed on the Internet. If other states follow this sample, records that have been unknown will be recognized as potential records to enhance family histories.

This guide is arranged numerically by Record Group (RG), followed by the Series Group (SG) number. Record Groups are counties listed in alphabetical order. A short history of the county is given for the convenience of the researcher. The Series Groups have been listed in numerical order, with a description of the records that are of interest to genealogists and historians.

Abbreviations have been used throughout the work: RG is Record Group, SG is Series Group and n.d. for no date given.

Not all counties are covered in this work. Pah-Ute County and La Paz County are missing. La Paz County is too new (established from a division of Yuma County in 1983), and no records have been retained from Pah-Ute County.

My thanks to the staff at the Arizona Archives and History Services, and the Records Management Divisions for their assistance in this compilation.

Linda Caldwell McCleary
Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
Phoenix, Arizona