State of Arizona Articles of Incorporation Maricopa County Legal Aid Society, 1953

The Cecilia D. Esquer Papers house literature, correspondence, original research papers, and proposals documenting Esquer's involvement in education, politics, and law. Although the collection dates from 1959 to 1993, the bulk of the documents extend from 1982 to 1990. The collection has been divided into five series.

Series I: Professional Papers has been divided into four sub-series describing Esquer's work experiences in chronological order. Sub-Series A: Private Legal Practice contains literature, correspondence, and cases dealing with such issues as civil rights, bilingual education, school desegregation, immigration law, and Indian land rights. Sub-Series B: Legal Services Corporation shows a continuation of Esquer's work on these causes and reflects her commitment to fair and equitable legal aid under the auspices of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). Included in this sub-series is correspondence and Congressional testimony regarding her appointment to the LSC, a number of policy statements and regulations for the LSC, LSC literature, and the text of several cases. Sub-Series C: College of Business houses faculty handbooks, correspondence, education journals, newsletters, and publications dealing with minority studies documenting the classes that Esquer taught at the Arizona State University College of Business. Finally, Sub-Series D: Revlon Foundation contains grant applications, participant lists, correspondence, and newsletters showing Esquer's work in helping minority high school students to continue their education and to consider careers in business.

Series II: Political Papers is divided into three sub-series. Sub-Series A: Democratic Papers: National Campaign Papers contains correspondence, reports, platforms, and publications showing Esquer's work with both the Arizona and the National Democratic Party. The contents of this sub-series were originally part of MSS-36. The bulk of these papers focus on Esquer's participation in the 1982 Democratic National Party Convention held in Philadelphia. Included are a number of platform papers from Jimmy Carter, Gary Hart, and Walter Mondale, an analysis of the U.S. Catholic Conference, and correspondence from various politicians asking for her political support. Sub-Series B: Pest Control Commission houses regulatory guidelines, policy papers, committee minutes, newspaper clippings, and correspondence reflecting Esquer's responsibility for investigating the licensing and practices of the pest control industry in Phoenix. Sub-Series C: Public Access Management consists primarily of literature and procedural documents demonstrating Esquer's involvement in regulating Phoenix's public access television. Also included are several acts concerning the administration of Tucson's public access channel, correspondence to the committee, and the minutes of various meetings.

Series III: Civic Papers: Guadalupe Organization houses materials showing Guadalupe's history, articles describing the Guadalupe Organization's activities, and diagrams of the town of Guadalupe and the proposed Guadalupe Mercado. Also included are studies on the dropout rate in Guadalupe and a subsequent lawsuit filed against Tempe Elementary School District No. 3 in 1972 alleging school segregation and discrimination against Yaqui and Mexican children. Materials documenting this lawsuit include the text from the case, newspaper articles, and editorial commentary on the actions of Dr. William Payne, a schoolboard member, in this incident.

Series IV: Personal Papers: Academic Studies houses papers and notes created during Esquer's undergraduate career (1959-1965) and notes, papers, legal texts, reviews, and research papers dealing with various legal issues documenting her legal studies (1973-1976). Series V: Miscellaneous Papers consists primarily of a variety of magazines and other publications that Esquer accumulated during her professional career. Among the subjects discussed are Mexican Americans, the Annual Chicano Behavioral Health Conference Recommendation, the report of the Fourth Annual Chicano Behavioral Health Conference, foreign affairs, and historical issues (including an article on the Mormon missions that established the Salt River Colony and papers on the U.S. Department of State National Foreign Policy Conference and NATO Review).