Maps at the Arizona State Archives
Plan Your Visit
The Arizona State Archives contains about 32,000 Arizona maps, dating from the 1860s to the present. The Map Collection focuses primarily on Arizona from the territorial period (1864) to the present. It includes commercial and government maps of the territory and state, county and city maps dating from the 1890s, historic topographic maps and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps on microfilm. Other collection strengths include: maps showing irrigation and urban development of the Salt River Valley, U.S. forest maps from 1909 to the present, land grant maps from the 1880s, land ownership maps of Maricopa County (1903 – 1929), railroad right-of-way maps and highway maps. In addition to early territorial maps, the collection includes selected pre-1864 maps of the U.S. Southwest and Mexico, and 17th and 18th century maps of North America.
The Map Collection houses plat maps for Maricopa County (Books 1 – 99) and Pinal County (Books 1 – 21).
Aerial photography for the Phoenix area is available from 1958 to 1997. The collection also houses maps distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program and serves as the Regional Federal map collection for Arizona.
Online
Some of the collection’s maps are online at the Arizona Memory Project.
There are several other online sources for historic Arizona.
- Historic U.S. Geological Survey topo maps
- Historic U.S. General Land Office maps
- Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for Arizona cities (for use in the library)
Selected historic Arizona maps in the Library of Congress:
- Hartley's Map of Arizona 1865
- Territory of Arizona 1876
- Territory of Arizona - Stage Lines, etc. 1876
- Territory of Arizona 1887
- Territory of Arizona - Railroads & Counties 1887
- Maps of Grand Canyon National Park
- Bird's Eye View of Phoenix circa 1885
- Tombstone, Arizona Territory Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1886
Flood Control District of Maricopa County aerial photographs:
- Maricopa County Historical Aerial Photography (1930 - 2009)
- Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for Arizona cities (for use in the library)
