STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – Researching Arizona’s amazing history was just made easier with the launch of the Arizona State Knowledge Center, or ASK according to Secretary of State Michele Reagan.
Building on her tradition to fundamentally transform the way the public accesses information, Secretary Reagan announced the launch of an innovative web based portal that allows users to explore the archival material housed at the State Archives. Visitors can search by term, check out Core Collections, or simply browse through the vast amount of resources.
“Our new system makes it simple and incredibly efficient to explore the extensive collections of our State Archives,” said Secretary Reagan. “Whether you are curious about the Wyatt Earp inquest or looking for state, county or local records, just ASK!”
Catherine May, a historian and former analyst and archivist for SRP said, “As a researcher and long-time user of archives, this new catalog’s value was immediately obvious, usable and appreciated. It’s obvious that dedicated archivists spent countless hours planning and developing this new program.”
Search results will bring up finding guides that describe the collection, and in many cases provide a file by file list of what is in each collection. Once people have identified the collections they are interested in viewing, they are encouraged to stop by the Polly Rosenbaum State Archives and History Building at 1901 W. Madison in Phoenix during regular business hours and talk to an archivist about viewing the material in the collections. Users can also e-mail archives experts to discuss their research request.
Visit ask.azlibrary.gov.
