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Governors Sidney Preston Osborn and Daniel E. Garvey, RG 1, SG 14-15, 1941-1951

RG 1, SG 14-15

Biographical Note

Sidney Preston Osborn was born in 1884 to a pioneering family in Phoenix. He represented Maricopa County as a delegate to the 1910 Constitutional Convention, and in 1911 Osborn became the first Arizona Secretary of State and held the office until 1918. His election as Governor in 1941, and for three consecutive terms, brought his lifelong dream to fruition. Although many of Osborn's ideas were put off by World War II, he successfully brought Arizona's water policies into the 20th century and worked hard on social issues such as education, labor and individual rights. Sidney Osborn was the first Arizona governor to die in office. He suffered from ameotropic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, and died on May 24, 1948.

Daniel Edward Garvey was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on June 19, 1886. After graduation from State College, he began working for a railroad as a clerk. In December 1909 he moved to Tucson. In 1939, he became Assistant Secretary of State and in 1944 became became Secretary of State upon Harry M. Moore's death. He was elected to the post that fall and served until his appointment as Governor to complete Osborn's unexpired term in 1948. He was the first Arizona Secretary of State to fill a Governor's unfinished term. In the November 1948 election, he won the governorship.

During his tenure, Arizona established the Children's Colony, revised the highway code, approved the Central Arizona Project and signed the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact. In 1950, Garvey became the Arizona administrator of the Federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation and in 1955 he became State Examiner. Governor Garvey died February 6, 1974.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of correspondence with the Arizona Governor's Office for the administrations of Sideny P. Osborn and Daniel E. Garvey. The Governor's Office arranged the Governor's correspondence alphabetically by subject, government agency, personal name and private organization. The Archives retained the same folder titles assigned by the Governor's office. There is some overlap between the two administrations. Therefore, Archives staff combined these administrations into one finding aid for researchers.

Osborn's correspondence files contain letters, reports, newspaper clippings, statistics, petitions, speeches and telegrams. Major topics include agriculture, business, the federal government, Arizona government agencies, land and water, the Legislature and social issues.

Agriculture files contain information on cotton production for the war effort, the guayule plant to produce a rubber substitute, meat and milk shortages, and shortages in Yuma's production levels.

Business folders concentrate primarily on the defense industry, with topics such as labor problems, mining needs, rent control, petroleum shortages and the building of the Westward Ho Hotel.

Federal government files contain correspondence between Governor Osborn and the federal government which intensified during the war years. Federal files document topics such as alien registration, maintenance of the Gila Bend bombing range, post-war planning for industries, creation of a Home Guard, war conditions, building prisoner of war camps, building a veterans hospital for Arizona and the status of Arizona's Japanese-Americans.

Arizona government files make up the majority of Governor Osborn's records. They contain materials on statewide issues, local interests and Governor Osborn's activities. Topics include sales tax, education, state employees' salaries, extraditions, speeches, the Governor's Conference on Children and letters from the Agriculture and Horticulture Commission concerning mandatory campaign contributions.

Land and water files mainly concern floods because there were several major floods in Arizona between 1941 and 1948. Topics covered include a flood of the Bill Williams River, guarding dams and bridges against foreign attack, a flood in Phoenix and maintaining a water rights treaty between the U.S. and Mexico.

State Legislature files include bills and memorials related to a sales tax, creating a Legislative Council, holding special sessions, motor transportation during the war and taxes on newspapers.

Social issues files document British war relief efforts, recycling for the war effort, Japanese internment and race prejudice, shortage of doctors, discrimination against Jews, a victory clothing drive and rationing.

Garvey's correspondence includes letters, reports, newspaper clippings, telegrams, bills, resolutions, appointments and cards dealing with a variety of subjects. Major topics include agriculture, federal government matters, and social issues.

Agriculture files deal with agricultural interests in Arizona such as post-war citrus production, date and lettuce production, and dairy farm labor camps. Arizona's business interests pertain especially to mines and mining.

Federal government files include correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings and telegrams on national topics of interest and concern to Arizona such as Senate Bill #172 related to POW's, oil rights on Indian lands, on-the-job training for veterans, prisoner of war camps and President Truman's visit.

Arizona government files contain correspondence and reports documenting state agencies, as well as county and municipal offices, activities and services. Folders containing correspondence with other states relate to multi-state and national issues, especially the Four Corners area.

Social issues addressed include the threat of communism, legalized gambling in Arizona, old age assistance, racial prejudice, the return of servicemen and women, and recreational facilities in Arizona.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

All photocopies of original materials are made by staff. We reserve the right to refuse copy services based on physical condition and possible damage to the materials.

For preservation purposes, if microfilm copies are available, patrons will use the microfilm first.

Under Arizona Revised Statute 39-141, public records used for commercial purposes have additional requirements. Please contact the Arizona State Archives for further information.

Copyright

It is the researcher’s responsibility to determine the copyright status of materials he or she uses. The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records is not legally or financially responsible for any copyright infringement by researchers.

Many documents held by the Arizona State Archives come under the Public Record law (ARS 41-1350). Documents created by the government are not copyrighted. The United States of America Copyright Law (P.L. 94-553, effective Jan. 1, 1978) extends statutory rights of authority to unpublished works which were previously protected by literary property rights under common law. Such works do not have to be registered with the Copyright Office to receive protection under the law.

Related Material

For related material see the Arizona Governor's Office Subject Files.

Controlled Access Terms

Accession Number

The State Archives received these materials from the Governor's Office prior to the creation of an accessioning system.

Administrative Information

Custodial History

The State Archives received these records from the Governor's Office.

Credit Line

Bibliographic citations must cite the title of the record group(s), the box or volume number, the History and Archives Division and the name of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records in full. Please use the following example:

Governor George W.P. Hunt to Ely Sims, November 21, 1919, Box 14, Office of the Governor, RG 1, History and Archives Division, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.

Processing Note

The Archives received Box 1, which follows Box 37, separate from the rest of the collection. Also, the folder following Folder 5 in Box 22A has been missing since 1983 and was not included in the folder numbers for Box 22.

Container List