Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2002 Issue
Arizona and the Southwest at the University of Arizona Library Special Collections
feature article
2. Powell, Donald M. Arizona Fifty: A List of Fifty Books about Arizona Since Statehood. Northland Press: Flagstaff, Arizona. 1962.
Although this book is not large, it is a succinct starting point for beginning readers in Arizona. The author includes brief annotations on each work. Donald Powell was a respected Librarian, Bibliographer and Professor of Library Science at the University of Arizona. His later two books, An Arizona Gathering and An Arizona Gathering II provide bibliographic background for titles published after 1950.
3. Powell, Lawrence Clark. Southwestern Book Trails: A Reader’s Guide to the Heartlands of New Mexico & Arizona. Albuquerque, Horn & Wallace. 1963. 91 p.
More expansive than Donald Powell’s Arizona Fifty, Southwestern Book Trails provides in depth historical background in the introductions of each chapter. As well, it includes books about Texas, New Mexico and California. This selective bibliography was written by Lawrence Clark Powell; a well renowned librarian who served as head of UCLA’s Library School from 1944 to 1961. He was the author of over 50 books many of them on the Southwest. This book also provides information on well-known collections, collectors and publishers of Southwestern Americana.
4. Powell, Lawrence Clark. A Southwestern Century: A Bibliography of One Hundred Books of Non Fiction about the Southwest. Van Nuys, Calif., J.E. Reynolds. [1958].
This is another selective listing of books on the Southwest. It is now available on the Internet via the University of Arizona Library’s Southwest Electronic Text Center at www.library.arizona.edu/swetc/projects.html.
5. Wallace, Andrew, ed. Sources & Readings in Arizona History. Tucson: Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society. 1965.
This is an authoritative book on the nonfiction literature of Arizona. This annotated bibliography is arranged topically. A scholar in that particular area of Arizona history introduces each chapter.
Conclusion
This article is meant to provide for the reader a survey of the wide range of materials available on Arizona and the Southwest as housed at the University of Arizona Library’s Special Collections. As every worthy title cannot be included in this article, the bibliography will be an excellent starting point for the collector or interested reader. As part of public research institution, the University of Arizona Library is committed to the collection and access to notable books and manuscripts in a comprehensive range of areas, Arizona and the Southwest being one component. The University of Arizona Library’s Special Collections can be found at: www.library.arizona.edu/branches/spc/homepage/index.html.
