About The Collection

Archives' photographs focus upon the unique cultural heritage of the state and territory of Arizona, beginning in 1863. The collection includes about 130,000 images, including photographs, slides, negatives, glass plate negatives, tintypes, transparencies, postcards and others.

Of these 130,000 images, about 33,000 are currently digitized and available on our photograph search page. Additionally, you may search 5,000 images via the Arizona Memory Project. The majority of photographs in the collection pre-date 1940, with emphases on the following areas:

• Arizona state government
• Colorado River
• New Deal
• C.S. Fly Collection from Tombstone in the 1880s
• Arizona Governor George W. P. Hunt’s extensive photo collection
• Wheeler Expedition photographs by Timothy O Sullivan from the 1870s
• Salsbury Collection of missionary life on the Navajo Reservation from 1930-40s
• Thomas Henry Bate Collection

The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records holds copyrights and applicable use rights to the images. Donations of photographs which document the history of Arizona are continuously accepted.

Our archivists endevaor to create the most accurate indentifying information possible for each image. However, occasionally we do misidentify an image. If you notice an error and can provide us with a correction please contact us.

If you have questions about the photograph collection, donations, or if you have identified errors, please contact us.