Prescott Valley Historical Society

The Prescott Valley Historical Society is dedicated to collecting materials relevant to Prescott Valley and the surrounding area. It has fairly complete collections of all past and present Prescott Valley newspapers as well as extensive materials relating to the Fain family, the Barlow-Massicks house, and the Fitzmaurice Ruin.

Prescott Valley Historical Society's archival materials are located in the Prescott Valley Civic Center.

Prescott Valley Historical Society is a membership organization and has regular educational meetings. For more information, contact Barbara Burton 928.772.8582


Newspapers

• Fringe Benefit: "A Prescott Valley, Incorporated Publication;" small monthly publication with 6-8 pages per issue. The Society has a complete or nearly complete set, covering the years 1970-78.
  
• Lonesome Valley News: free, two issues 1978.
  
• Merchants' Messenger, May 5, 1977, Vol. 2, #43.
  
• Prescott Valley Progress: "Serving Prescott Valley, Dewey, Blue Hills, Humboldt, Mayer, Spring Valley, Cordes Junction, Granite Dells" Weekly, starts out free and by 1983 costs $.25 The Society appears to have a fairly complete collection. The newspaper started as a small newspaper-format, free, 1981, ½ and ½ news and ads: (local news). The collection extends through 1983.
  
• The Tribune: Greater Prescott's largest circulation weekly newspaper published weekly by Prescott Newspapers (Oct 21, 1986) 24 pp, mostly ads and some news.
  
• Selected local (Prescott Courier) and national papers with national and local significance, i.e., death of John Kennedy
  
• The Courier: Prescott Territorial Days Edition, June 1, 1983
  

• "Crown King and the Southern Bradshaws: A complete History," Bruce M. Wilson, Crown King Press, Chandler, Arizona, (this is Chapter 2) no date listed.
  
• Prescott Valley Historical Society activities, Gold Fever Day, Fain Park, Sept 19, 1998, 7 color snapshots; Orchard Ranch "sign" dedication 1997, about 30 snapshots, and other shots from area as well as various sheets on historic preservation, maps, etc.
  
• Photocopy of map and "design" of Fain site, from the Dedication, no date listed.
  
• Fitzmaurice Ruin (Native American site) assessment: photos and application as well as copies of photographic data sheet. There are approximately 40 negatives and black and white prints of the site; approximately 16 color prints of site.
  
• Local events: approximately 15-20 newspaper clippings, not always dated but most of the material appears to be from the mid 1980s; several subdivision reports, early 1970s.
  
• Envelope: collection of miscellaneous materials, and a few photos from Prescott Valley Incorporated. There are some copies of "Satisfaction of Mortgage" (mid 1970s); Map: Prescott Valley, an established Community, no date; copy of sheet, "The Industrial Commission of Arizona Office of the State Fire Marshal 'Mobile Home Tips'" distributed by VFW Ladies' Aux., (no date); copy of map, 1969 "Prescott Valley Unit Eight, sheet No. 2, lots 2336 through 2708."
  
• Expanding folder (about ½ inch: labeled Prescott Valley)
  Some duplicate information: Prescott Valley time line starting with 10,000 BC but getting more explicit around 1800, local, early brochures (including the first one?), maps, clippings, not always dated (about 10), some early town statues, maps, announcements, some brochures for early businesses and concerns.
  
• Copy aerial photo, 1991: Prescott Valley: Developer: Town and Country Properties, Prescott/Prescott Valley (about 8x14)
  
• "Class III Survey, Instrument Mapping and General Architectural Condition Assessment for the Protection of Fitzmaurice Ruin, Prescott Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona," SWCA, Inc., Environmental Consultants, March 1, 1999.
  
• Box of publications, copies for sale: of Barnett Franklin. Excavation of Main Pueblo at Fitzmaurice Ruin: Prescott Culture in Yavapai County, Arizona. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Special Publication, 1974. (This book is sold with: Franklin Barnett. Fitzmaurice Ruin: A prehistoric Prescott Culture Ruin in Yavapai County, Arizona. Yavapai College, 1975.
  
• Smith, Dean. Norman Fain: From Branding Irons to Board Rooms, Nine Decades of Achievement. 1997 (personal publication)
  
• "Barlow-Massicks House: Prescott Valley, Arizona, Ryden Architects, Final Report: Building Assessment Report," 124 pages with photos, (prepared for the town in 1998). Clippings about the house from PV Tribune, 1997 (on the Banks of Lynx Creek at Fain Park).
  
• T. G. Barlow-Massicks: personal information from secondary sources, a few clippings, some photocopies of primary sources (used to write Peggy Magee's pamphlet, "A Man, his dog and his castle," 1997, along with the original draft for press run).
  
• "Diamond Valley: The Gateway to Arizona's Fabulous Northland." 11 page compilation of narrative and copies of a few articles, on Diamond Valley. It does not say who wrote this or when, but it was after 1994.
  
• Fain Park: pictures mostly of "The Castle," landscape and ruins; about 20 colored snapshots, mostly from 1997, copies of photos from Sharlot Hall Museum, (8), turn of the century of the area, Barlow-Massicks, Lynx Creek Reservoir.
  
• Norman Fain Family: secondary sources and copies of primary information on the family, (about 30 pieces including several page biographies of some early family members, e.g., Mildred Back Fain, who was born in 1879 at Beaver Creek near Cornville, grew up on Montezuma Well Ranch, married Dan Fain 1902, and gave birth to Norman 1907).
  
• Fain Park Planning Committee minutes, 1997 (four meetings) photo copies
  
• Fain Park: copies of plans, brochure, local promotional materials, newspaper clippings, copy of Public Works Department's: "Prescott Valley: Fain Park Dam Overlook, 1/7/98," about 20 pp.
  
• Stamp Mill: 8x10 color photo, no date given, but by Gene Mrotek. This photo must have been taken in the 1990s. According to librarian, Scott Bruner, this is the only photo that depicts the stamp mill "whole;" it is now in pieces and scattered. The photo was brought into the library by a patron.
  
• Glassford Hill: newspaper clippings (20 from late the 1990s), background on the preserve, historical significance, copies of plat maps, article by Howard Sheldon: (4 pp) "Glassford Hill and Geronomo's Surrender: Is there a Link?" (Edited version appears in The Prescott Valley Tribune, 7/96). There is also information on military telegraph, and information on volcanoes. About 10 color photos depict Historical Society members hiking up Glassford Hill, May, 1998; copy of Commissioner Order Classifying State Trust Land as suitable for conservation purposes, order no 131-98/99
  
• Gold Fever Day, 1997: includes photos for Fain Park Dedication (about 20 colored photos of the crowd, events, landscape taken 8-22-97), clippings, brochures, etc., on Gold Fever Days (Sponsored by Prescott Valley Historical Society & the PV Chamber of Commerce) news releases.
  
• Lonesome Valley Ruin in Yavapai County, Arizona: Technical Series No. 13 (Pub 1973, Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, Inc.) by Franklin Barnett.
  
• Mayors and Council: names from 1970-93, two articles on this subject
  
• Massicks, Arizona: photocopies of materials used to research this place. There are photos of an old structure and the ruins of the Massicks Post Office, but no one in the library has been able to locate the originals. Barkdull, Tom, "Lonesome Walls: An Odyssey Through Ghost Towns of the old West," New York, Exposition Press, (no year visible on photocopy). Barkdull also wrote "Lore of the Lynx," and this has a photo of a deserted cabin near Massicks (caption states that photos are courtesy of the author). The article is from Old West, summer 1967. There is a photocopy of the postmark, a short, secondary piece on Massicks near Walker (PO March 1895-99) (map shows it by "Lynn? Lake), before Howells Mill.
  
• Document requesting that Fitzmaurice Ruin be placed on State Historical Preservation Office list, Jan 28, 1991.
  
• Arizona Railroads: copies of maps, 2 pamphlets on Verde Valley railroads, "Pioneer Arizona Railroads," by David F. Myrick, 2 articles on railroads.
  
• Prescott Valley, small folder with copies of two 1998 newspaper articles on the town.
  
• Prescott History: copy of Melissa Weiner's "Prescott Yesteryears, A free souvenir in honor of America's Bicentennial," 40 page pamphlet: other secondary information from newspapers and magazines, late 1990s (approximately 6 articles).
  
• Sharlot Hall: secondary information as well as a photocopy of a handwritten piece to Ms Maxwell, dated November 2, 1977 on where Sharlot Hall lived.
  
• Spirit of the West Museum: article from courier 8/30/96 on grants for the museum: and brochure. The museum was never built.
  
• Ginger Johnson: Exploring the Past: A View of Southwestern Prehistory. Personal publication 1994.
  
• Town of Prescott Valley: copies of two large, color aerial photos: overviews of the history, copies of black and white, very high aerials and plat of town, one from 1966, six from 1985. Earliest town brochures (late 1970s, early 1980s). Information on local organizations, local churches, copies of clippings (10), short locally written histories of the area, one chronology by Rudy Szewczak, Executive Director of the Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce "collected from a variety of sources," 7 typed pages.
  
• "Prescott Valley's Early Days" by Geraldine Diesch, 18 pp, no date listed, (from a series for PV Tribune).
  
• Danny Freeman's books: History of Yavapai Calf Plan (1982) and Yavapai Cattle Growers: Brief History, 1932-1982)
  
• Prescott Valley Historical Society: By-laws: Articles of Incorporation, application for tax exemption, Employers' ID number, brochures, Newsletters, minutes of meetings 1996-99 (incorporated 1997).
  
• "Early Tales from Young Minds," publication of children's writing (locally published, 1983 by The Yavapai Reading Council of the Arizona State Reading Association of the International Reading Assn.) Prescott: Banner Printing, editor and chairman, Colleen Ludwig (112 pages).
  
• Richardson, Gladwell. Two Guns, Arizona. Santa Fe: Blue Feather Press, 1968.
  

• Fact Sheets: 1971 through April 4, 1977 (often done each month)
  The sheets contain information such as: homes completed, homes under construction apartment buildings completed, census, miles of water lines, miles of roads, telephone installations, power meter installations: names of businesses, churches, clubs and organizations, facilities and services
  
• Fact Sheets, May 3, 1977- August 1, 1979
  
• Prescott Valley Litter Lifters: 1983-1991
  This contains narratives and clippings, (the clippings appear to be from local newspapers; some snapshots starting in 1985, about 10 per year between 1985 and 1989, the most active year, according to this record).
  
• Album: Prescott Valley (Community Association): 1971. The book has 80 pages containing, among other things, minutes of PVCA, Jan. 1971 to the end of 1971. There are about 10 black and white snapshots and the rest is newspaper clippings covering community events and other personal events from that year, mostly from the "Prescott Valley News" section of the Prescott Courier.
  
• Album: Prescott Valley (Community Association): 1972: The book has approximately 80 pages containing clippings, primarily from the Prescott Courier. Approximately 10 articles are not within the plastic pages.
  
• Album: Prescott Valley (Community Association): 1973: This contains about 80 pages with articles plus 5 snapshots, and a few "programs" for local events: in the back there are approximately ten additional articles.
  
• Album: Local issues:
  This contains approximately 100 pages with newspaper clippings (mostly dated 1974) from local publications. Clippings cover local news, information on local individuals, including deaths, births, and a few loose colored photos. Most articles are by Doris Conahay. There is a copy of the brochure for the dedication of Prescott Valley Community Building on Saturday, May 18 (no year listed, but it must be 1974), as well as invitations to events. It also contains Amendments to the Articles of Incorporation of Prescott Valley Community Association (dated April 3, 1974).
  
• Magnetic Vue photo album, Prescott Valley (Community Association): 1969-70. This book contains approximately 150 black and white photos as well as 20 clippings of newspaper articles about Prescott Valley activities. Many photos are well identified by date and subject. Subjects include the groundbreaking for the firehouse. The book also contains the first day cancellation Feb 1, 1969 at Prescott Valley Post office.
  In the front of the book is: "The Prescott Valley Community Association," a narrative about the formation of the association and early meetings, as well as minutes of meetings from late 1969 and 1970.
  
• Slide Collection: "The Story of Prescott Valley and the Beginning Days of Open Door Baptist Church" (Paul. W. Toelken, approximately 120 slides, not dated)
  
• Copies of two Sharlot Hall Museum photos of Barlow-Massicks house, reproduced in 1978.
  
• Miscellaneous folder: mostly pictures: 15 color snapshots of the building of the present library
  20 unidentified photos of local and area activities and sites, ranging from 1991 through possibly 1999.
  
• Other photos are located in the boxes and file drawers (see above)