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Arizona Genealogy Resources

An overview of the physical and digital genealogy resources from the State of Arizona Research Library and the Arizona State Archives.

Arizona Newspapers

Newspapers are a rich and valuable resource for genealogy researchers. Not only do they reflect the time in which they were created, but they provide a glimpse back into our communities. They capture the everyday life of the people and places of Arizona.

Arizona Newspapers: What's Available

The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records has the largest collection of historic Arizona newspapers in the state spanning from the first Arizona newspaper published in 1859, to current titles. Print materials are viewable in our Reading Room located at the Polly Rosenbaum Archives and History Building by appointment only. Consult our catalog for available titles or submit a question.

The Arizona Newspaper Project has over two million pages of newspapers on microfilm available at the Polly Rosenbaum Archives and History Building. Digital microfilm readers are available for patron use.

View the finding aid for microfilm here.

The Arizona Digital Newspaper Program (ADNP) is the state’s collection of digitized newspapers. Digitized titles can be found on the Arizona Memory Project. Most of our digitally available content is pre-1963 due to copyright restrictions. More information about the ADNP can be found here.

Many of our newspapers were digitized as part of grants from the National Digital Newspaper Program. Our content ranges from Arizona’s first newspaper, The Weekly Arizonan, through mid-20th century. Our content between 1880 – 1922 is quite valuable because it documents the time when Arizona “grew up.” We were a territory until 1912. The latest grant focused on the digitization of newspapers from underrepresented communities throughout the state.

You can also search for digitized Arizona newspapers and other locales on the Chronicling America website.

Obituary Look-ups

Library staff will provide obituary look-ups if you are able to provide the name, newspaper title, and exact date of death. Please submit your request here. There is no charge for this service.