It’s bike to work day!
ARIZONA, 05/1972
Terry Eiler, photographer. From the EPA’s DOCUMERICA series.
(More items from DOCUMERICA are currently on exhibit at the National Archives: “Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project”)
Unfortunately the caption doesn’t tell us much, but we know this smart cyclist remembered his helmet!
Did you bike to work? Tandem? Recumbent? Bikeshare?
PIECE OF BULLDOZED DESERT ON THE EDGE OF TUCSON, ARIZONA. THE SAGUARO CACTUS ARE LEFT STANDING NEAR WHAT WILL BE A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT. THE FATE OF OTHER SAGUAROS IS UNCERTAIN. MANY ARE DYING IN LESS DISTURBED PARTS OF THE DESERT IN THE AREA, 04/1974
Boyd Norton, Photographer. From the EPA’s DOCUMERICA Series
The Saguaro National Monument near Tucson, Arizona, was first established 80 years ago in March, 1933, later becoming the Saguaro National Park in 1994. (Given their proximity to a planned development, it’s unlikely this cluster of cacti was included in the National Monument, although the saguaro are protected in Arizona.)
DOCUMERICA Fan? Check out “Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” now open at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
(Thanks to the America’s Great Outdoors Tumblr for the tip!)
HAVASU LAKE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
From the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency. (12/02/1970 - )
Happy start of day light savings!
We’ll all enjoy an extra hour of sunlight this afternoon.
Source: http://go.usa.gov/2WH4
National Parks 2-for-1 Day!
- Grand Canyon National Park, established by President Wilson on February 26, 1919, following its designation as a National Monument in 1908
(View, dark shadows to right, high horizon, “Grand Canyon National Park,” Arizona., 1933 - 1942, Ansel Adams, Photographer.)
- Grand Teton Nation Park, established by President Coolidge on February 26, 1929, and later expanded in 1950
”The Tetons - Snake River,” Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming., 1933 - 1942, Ansel Adams, Photographer.
Residence of G. L. Rule Feb. 18, 1898. Have lived here since Sept. 1893. Family stands in foreground; sod building and cabin in background, Arizona Territory
From the Series: Photographs Accompanying Reports to the Secretary of the Interior
Auxiliaries Ruth Wade and Lucille Mayo (left to right) further demonstrate their ability to service trucks as taught them during the processing period at Fort Des Moines and put into practice at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 12/08/1942
Surveying the West
Observed by curious onlookers, several boats of the Wheeler Expedition leave Camp Mojave in the Arizona Territory on September 15, 1871. Between 1871 and 1879 Lieutenant George Wheeler and his team extensively explored and surveyed land west of the 100th meridian.
Photograph of Wheeler Expedition as It Departs Camp Mojave, Arizona Territory, 09/15/1871
via DocsTeach
The Homestead Act of 1862 turns 150
Families filing homestead claims were required to prove 5 years of residence and make improvements to the land.
- “Turning over first sod on homestead.” Sun River Mont. By Lubkin, November 5, 1908
- “Hancock homestead. Settler from Benson, Minn.” Little girl feeding chickens against background of house, buckboard wagon, and ridge of plateau, Sun River, Mont. By Lubkin, June 23, 1910
- Residence of G. L. Rule Feb. 18, 1898. Have lived here since Sept. 1893.” Family stands in foreground; sod building and cabin in background, Arizona Territory
See the rest of our series commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Homestead Act »
Homestead proof for Virgil Walter Earp
Virgil Earp, the brother of more famous Wyatt Earp, followed his family West in the 1860s after his service with the Union Army during the Civil War. He participated in the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Arizona Territory in 1877 and filed this homestead proof at the Prescott, Arizona, Land Office on April 11, 1900.
A Hopi (Moqui) petition signed by all the Chiefs and headmen of the tribe asking the Federal Government to give them title to their lands instead of individually allotting each tribal member. 03/27/1894 - 04/10/1894
The Hopi people of the Moqui Villages in the Arizona Territory sent this petition to “the Washington Chiefs in March, 1894. Signed by representatives of the tribe, with a symbol for every family, the document asked the federal government to give the Hopi title to their lands instead of individually allotting each tribal member a plot, as had been prescribed by the Dawes Act of 1887. The Moqui worried about losing their matriarchal way of life and cooperative management of resources that helped them adapt to their environment. Referring to surveyors, the petition said: “During the last two years, strangers have looked over our land with spy-glasses and made marks upon it.…None of us were asked that it should be measured into separate lots, and given to individuals for this would cause confusion.”
The document is written in the hand of Thomas Keam, who first came west with the military to move the Navajo people from Arizona to New Mexico, but later established a trading post and worked with Hopi and Navajo leaders to maintain peace between them, new settlers, and American authorities.
Only selected pages are shown here; the full petition is available via DocsTeach »
Today marks the 100th anniversary for Arizona’s statehood! Check out our image gallery to see a selection of documents we’ve compiled from Arizona’s path to statehood.
Memorial of the Territory of Arizona praying for Statehood, 3/11/1899, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
Happy Birthday, Arizona! (Part 3)
The trouble with paperwork…
We all know it’s true: Oftentimes it’s just hard to figure out government paperwork. Where do I get the form? Am I filling it out correctly? Where do I send it? How do I follow up? The questions are endless! Apparently this is not new!
Some unfortunate people just wanted to apply for naturalization, but happened to do so in a court that would soon cease to exist, and in a territory that would soon become a state. What happens to their paperwork?! Is it lost in the abyss?
This unsigned letter, dated less than a month after Arizona’s statehood, deals with this issue. We found it in the files of the clerk of the U.S. District Court for Tucson. We can assure you (cause we went and checked in the minutes of the court) these cases were not lost. Good thinking on behalf of the clerk, and good recordkeeping all the way around!
Happy Birthday, Arizona! (Part 2)
It’s the little things, right?
On February 14, 1912, Arizona officially became a state. Arizona had already been functioning as a recognized U.S. territory, but statehood made things official! So many things had to change, a state government had to be constructed, and lots of thought had to go into every little detail.
One of the best places to glimpse into these little details in the minute books of court clerks. Here at NARA-Riverside, we hold the minute books of the U.S. District courts for Arizona. In the first volume of minutes for the newly created state’s District Court in Phoenix, one of the little things that had to happen was the seal of the court. The description of the new seal is clear:
Though these seals are very important and we usually see them looking quite official, we found a first draft:
The little seal doesn’t look so bad on the whole page, though!
Happy Birthday, Arizona!
From our colleagues at the National Archives at Riverside, CA (the newest addition to the National Archives Tumblr presence!):
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Arizona’s statehood!
Here at NARA-Riverside, we decided to commemorate this day by trying to find some records that refer back to the transition from a U.S. territory to a state; after all, we do maintain all of the permanent federal records for all of Arizona!
One of the first records we found that tells us about the statehood was on the last page of a very large, very old bound volume of minutes of the First District of the Arizona Territorial Court. Upon statehood, the Territorial Court was no longer the correct avenue for proceedings—now Arizona needed District Courts. The Pima Bar Association asked that an entry be included at the end of the volume—it’s celebratory and transitional, but also a little bittersweet.
Happy 100th Birthday Arizona!
The Grand Canyon State became the 48th state on February 14, 1912!
Have you ever visited Arizona?
