History of Arizona, Undated

The Joseph Fish Collection houses a typescript copy of Fish's History of Arizona and a subject index. Fish's history is a relatively comprehensive topical account of the development of Arizona that was written in about 1906. Fish wrote at length on relations between white settlers and local Indian tribes with emphasis on the story of the Apaches and the Indian Wars. He also provides some information on the colonization of Mormon families in Arizona in the second half of the text. Fish documented some of his sources and added detailed commentary in long textual footnotes.

Although the work treats the development of prehistoric cultures and covers events from the Spanish colonial period to early twentieth century territorial politics, there are some items of particular interest in this work. Fish provides lists of territorial Governors, Justices, and Legislators from 1863 to 1905 (p. 366-373) and briefly describes the work of the territorial legislature in each session from 1889 to 1905 (p. 697-703). A summary of elections for congressional delegates from 1890 to 1904 is also provided (p. 704-706). The author offers population estimates for Indians in Arizona listed by tribe for 1863 and 1899 (p. 534). Finally, Fish included statistics for number of schools, school attendance, and school property valuations from 1885-1900 (p. 741).