The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Winter 1973, Volume 19, Number 1
James E. Moss, Editor
Book Notes
David J. Weber, Book Review Editor
Documents of Southwestern History: A Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Arizona Historical Society. Compiled by Charles C. Colley. Tucson: Arizona Historical Society, 1972. Illustrations. Index. Map. 233 pages. $20.00.
Documents have a curious way of traveling. Just as many manuscripts pertaining to Arizona history have found their way into California archives (most notably the Bancroft Library), so, too, documents pertaining to California have ended up in Arizona. Thus, the publication of Charles C. Colley’s guide to the manuscript holdings of the Arizona Historical Society library at Tucson is a welcome event not only for historians of Arizona history, but for historians across the Southwest.
San Diego, in the southwestern most corner of the Southwest, shares many historical themes with southern Arizona. This is especially true because the major overland route to San Diego has been by way of Tucson and Yuma. The Arizona Historical Society collections contain diaries of several people who traveled that route, including Judge Benjamin Hayes, who journeyed from Socorro, New Mexico, to Warner’s Ranch in 1849-50, and the reminiscences of J. T. Warner, for whom Warner’s Springs is named. Persons interested in the history of mining, the cattle industry, railroads, Anglo-Indian relations, Anglo-Mexican relations, biography or genealogy will find this collection especially rich.
The Arizona Historical Society has performed a great service in making the extent and variety of its holdings better known to researchers outside the Tucson area. Hopefully the San Diego History Center will one day publish a similar guide to its own collections.
DJW
