Parade of States -- online digital genealogy resources -- Arizona

Arizona is not exactly perceived to be in the forefront of places where people do genealogical research but the collections listed below are mind boggling extensive. Arizona is perceived as a place where people from the Midwest go to live and to retire. To the contrary, our heritage (I live in Arizona) actually dates back hundreds of years to Native American and Spanish roots. Historically, the population has been sparse, but recently, with the boom in sun belt living, the state capital, Phoenix, has grown to be the fifth largest city in the U.S.

Arizona has some of the first online collections of digitized vital record images and is still one of the very few states with easily accessible and free, birth and death certificates.

• Arizona Archives Online
This newer collection is just getting started. It includes images from all of the following:

* Arizona Historical Foundation
o Arizona Historical Foundation Collections
* Arizona Historical Society Southern Division
o Arizona Historical Society Southern Division Collections
* Arizona Historical Society at Papago Park
o Arizona Historical Society at Papago Park Collections
* Arizona State Library Archives and Public Records
o Arizona History and Archives Division
* Arizona State Museum
o Arizona State Museum Collections
* Arizona State University
o Arizona Collection
o Chicano Research Collection
o Child Drama Collection
o Labriola National American Indian Data Center
o Special Collections
o University Archives
o Visual Literacy Collection
* Heard Museum
o Heard Museum Library and Archives Collections
* Northern Arizona University
o Arizona Historical Society. Flagstaff Archives
o Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Department
* University of Arizona
o Center for Creative Photography
o Main Library Special Collections

Not all of these items are available online as yet, unfortunately.


• Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates
  PDF images of the original certificates of birth (1855-1932) and death (1844-1957) This collection should be a model for all of the states.
  

• Arizona Memory Project This is really too much to even begin to analyze. It is a really extensive collection.
  

• Arizona State University Libraries Online Collections Duplicates some of the material in the Memory Project.
  

• Cultural Inventory Project (Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records)Quoting from the Website, "The CIP includes more than 600 repositories and societies working to preserve Arizona’s past. You’ll find basic directory information, including addresses, phone numbers, emails, and website. The CIP also includes descriptions of each repository’s mission and collections."

• Hayden Arizona Pioneer Biographies A relatively short list of pioneer biographies.

• Historical Photograph Collection at the Arizona State Archives
  
Thousands of digital images of historic significance.


• Little Cowpuncher: Rural School Newspaper of Southern Arizona
Little Cowpuncher was the name of a mimeographed school newspaper, written and illustrated by Anglo and Mexican-American ranch children. It appeared from 1932 to 1943 at five different rural schools in Southern Arizona.


• Southwest Electronic Text Center (University of Arizona Library) includes Books of the Southwest and selected Journal of Arizona History articles

• University of Arizona Library Web Exhibits An extensive collection of resources on Southwest history and some genealogy.
  

• Through Our Parents' Eyes: History & Culture of Southern Arizona Through the use of digital histories presented as images, text, audio, and video, Southern Arizona's history and culture is available to anyone with access to the Internet.