Project MUSE®: Journal of Arizona History - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Journal of Arizona History.daily12026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 59 (2018) through current issueLatest Articles: Journal of Arizona HistoryTWOProject MUSE®Journal of Arizona History2689-39080021-9053Latest articles in Journal of Arizona History. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Preface
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984890
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To Our Fellow Arizonans,On behalf of the Arizona America250 Commission, it is an honor to share a few words in the Spring issue of the Journal of Arizona History. As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there is no better moment to reflect on our history, heritage, and shared legacy. The Arizona Historical Society has been an invaluable partner in marking the Semiquincentennial in Arizona. Their expertise, knowledge, and deep love of our state shine through in all they do, and we are grateful that this journal serves as yet another avenue to share that passion with the people of the Grand Canyon State.The Arizona America250 Commission was established to
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallPreface2026-03-18text/htmlen-USPreface2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®35442026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18Editor's Note
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984891
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This year, the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. To commemorate this important national anniversary, the editorial staff of the Journal of Arizona History has produced this unique special issue. There are no traditional research articles in it. Instead, the issue features articles in a variety of formats. Our goal is to help deepen Arizonans' understanding of our state's connections to larger historical events. For us, the driving question behind this issue has been: How have the diverse peoples inhabiting the land we now call Arizona participated in and connected to America's story over the past 250 years? The issue begins with a short essay from me about how
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallEditor's Note2026-03-18text/htmlen-USEditor's Note2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®109622026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18Commemorating a Global Event: 459 Pesos and Other Ways to Connect Arizona to the American Revolution
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984892
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As a college history major, I took a diverse array of courses. My passion was for American history, but I also wanted to be well-rounded in my knowledge of the past. As such, I found myself one semester in a course on early British history. The professor who taught the course—a brilliant woman of Indian ancestry—ended up being my favorite professor in college. I remember many of the historical lessons she taught me, but one story, in particular, has stuck with me in vivid detail. As she told the class, she was at the post office one day when a gentleman in line with her struck up a conversation. When she informed him that she was a college history professor who taught British history, his eyes lit up. He was
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallCommemorating a Global Event: 459 Pesos and Other Ways to Connect Arizona to the American Revolution2026-03-18text/htmlen-USCommemorating a Global Event: 459 Pesos and Other Ways to Connect Arizona to the American Revolution2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®336352026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18The Pimería Alta and the Thirteen Colonies: A Comparative Timeline, 1751–1784
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984893
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The semiquincentennial of the American Declaration of Independence coincides with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Spanish presidio of San Agustín del Tucson, but otherwise the events seem disconnected from each other. The developments that led to thirteen British colonies on the eastern coast of North America becoming the United States of America seem far removed from what was happening on the other side of the continent in what the Spanish called the Pimería Alta (land of the upper Pimas), present-day southern Arizona and northern Sonora. A closer look, however, reveals connections across the continent.Both New Spain's northern frontier and Britain's thirteen North American colonies were distant from
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallThe Pimería Alta and the Thirteen Colonies: A Comparative Timeline, 1751–17842026-03-18text/htmlen-USThe Pimería Alta and the Thirteen Colonies: A Comparative Timeline, 1751–17842026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®531912026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18George Washington Never Slept Here: A Tour of Ancient and Colonial Sites in Arizona
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984894
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When Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912, it gained the nickname "the Baby State," a term used to highlight its newness and potential. This emphasis on youth offered some contrast to the "older" states on the east coast, as there was nothing Arizonans could point to that reflected a connection to a British colonial or American Revolutionary history.1 In Massachusetts, people could visit the battlefield at Bunker Hill or the Old North Church in Boston. In Pennsylvania, they could go to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and ultimately signed. Likewise, small towns up and down the eastern seaboard featured old houses that had been preserved because the
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallGeorge Washington Never Slept Here: A Tour of Ancient and Colonial Sites in Arizona2026-03-18text/htmlen-USGeorge Washington Never Slept Here: A Tour of Ancient and Colonial Sites in Arizona2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®578972026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18Arizona and the Nation: Exploring U.S. History through Arizona Objects
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984895
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In the summer of 2022, I received a call from a member of a quilting club in Green Valley about coming to see a new quilt exhibit that had opened at the Arizona History Museum in Tucson. Green Valley, largely a retirement community, is about thirty miles south of Tucson, and this, I was told, was a major outing for the club. That January, the Arizona Historical Society had opened Los Desconocidos, an exhibit featuring quilts by the Migrant Quilt Project, a volunteer organization that creates memorial quilts that commemorate the lives of people who died crossing the Arizona-Mexico border. Quilters are allowed to design their quilt however they like, so long as it includes, at least partially, materials found at
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallArizona and the Nation: Exploring U.S. History through Arizona Objects2026-03-18text/htmlen-USArizona and the Nation: Exploring U.S. History through Arizona Objects2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®465892026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18American Ideals in the West: Exploring Rights and Responsibilities through Arizona Documents
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984896
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Words are powerful. They can inspire or they can frighten. They can unite or they can divide. They can be profoundly meaningful or bafflingly incoherent. They can be beautiful or they can be ugly. Words help us communicate—whether in face-to-face conversations with neighbors or friends, an email to a co-worker, or a social media post to friends and followers across the country or around the globe. Words also help us understand what people in the past thought and what their lives were like. When historians speak about "documents," most people probably imagine dusty, yellowing pieces of paper filled with cursive handwriting that is nearly impossible to read. But documents take many forms. Together, they help us
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallAmerican Ideals in the West: Exploring Rights and Responsibilities through Arizona Documents2026-03-18text/htmlen-USAmerican Ideals in the West: Exploring Rights and Responsibilities through Arizona Documents2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®758472026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18Exercising Rights, Celebrating Democracy: Visualizing American Freedom in Arizona Images
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984897
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Photographs can be rich in detail and emotion. While looking at photos, it often feels like you've been transported to another time and place. It is important, however, to remember that even a photograph must be examined with a critical eye. Historians "read" photos in much the same way they read a text: in addition to taking in the content and composition of the image, historians think about its historical context and the reason for its creation. Do details in the image, like landmarks or style of dress, give us greater insight into the significance of an image? Who was the photographer's intended audience, and how did they intend that audience to consume the image? Was the photograph staged or was it candid? When
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallExercising Rights, Celebrating Democracy: Visualizing American Freedom in Arizona Images2026-03-18text/htmlen-USExercising Rights, Celebrating Democracy: Visualizing American Freedom in Arizona Images2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®290712026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18Place Setting: Sharing Arizona's Food Traditions
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984898
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Historical figures don't seem to eat much. It's one of the strange paradoxes of history: while historians seek to understand the human experience, much of what we know is devoid of one of the most basic human needs—food. A biographer might note their subject's favorite dish or a historian might mention food insecurity related to a tragic event, but our ancestors' day-to-day nourishment is rarely remarked on in history books. There are many reasons for this: on the one hand, some historians might be uninterested or not see the value in food history. This was especially true before the "cultural turn" in the 1970s. Before that, historians focused on the great figures of history and were less interested in documenting
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/766/image/coversmallPlace Setting: Sharing Arizona's Food Traditions2026-03-18text/htmlen-USPlace Setting: Sharing Arizona's Food Traditions2026-03-182026TWOProject MUSE®894902026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-03-18