Arizona Memory Project extends coverage of historic, long-running Tucson newspaper

PHOENIX – Holding an important place in Arizona’s history and one of its largest cities, Tucson’s newspapers contained important stories about the early days of the territory and statehood. The addition of the Arizona Daily Citizen and the Tucson Citizen to the Arizona Memory Project extends the coverage of the original Arizona Citizen newspaper from 1870 through 1902. Though the newspaper changed names a handful of times over the decades, the news coverage did not. State, local, and international news, as well as editorials, mining and agricultural news filled the newspaper until the print version stopped in 2009.

“We wanted to share the story of early Tucson, so we chose to digitize the Arizona Daily Citizen beginning in 1901, the same year the paper changed its name to the Tucson Citizen,” said Sativa Peterson, National Digital Newspaper program grant project director and news content program manager for the State of Arizona Research Library. “The new masthead boasted, ‘The Dawn of a New Era for Tucson,’ and this paper provides a glimpse of Tucson at the turn of the century.”

These are two of 40 newspaper titles from communities around Arizona that were digitized by the Arizona State Library in partnership with the University of Arizona Libraries, thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress’ National Digital Newspaper Program. Issues from the 1901 Arizona Daily Citizen will be available on the Arizona Memory Project indefinitely and can be viewed for free on any digital device at http://go.azsos.gov/azdcitizen. Issues of The Tucson Citizen from 1901-1902 can be viewed at http://go.azsos.gov/tucsoncitizen.

For questions about this or any digital collection, or for cultural institutions interested in sharing collections on the Arizona Memory Project, contact [email protected].

The Arizona Memory Project provides free online access to the wealth of primary sources in Arizona archives, museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions. The Arizona Memory Project is supported by the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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