University of Arizona

Students, faculty, staff, and the public are now welcome to visit Special Collections without an appointment from 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday.

Records of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union (ACLU of Arizona)

Letter to Employees of Maricopa County Health Department

The Arizona Civil Liberties Union (Now the ACLU of Arizona) was formed in 1958 to protect the individual and civil rights of Arizonans through the actions in litigation, legislation, and public education.

The collection contains correspondence, financial reports, minutes of meetings, publications, clippings, tape recordings of radio broadcasts, and material on various local cases and projects. Includes papers relating to its establishment and operation in connection with the national civil liberties movement, and the Arizona Legislative Coordinating Committee, an independent ad hoc committee formed to encourage passage of constructive State legislation in the field of civil rights and liberties.

Local cases concern issues such as academic freedom, prayer in schools, vagrancy, birth control, and racial segregation. More recent files pertain to abuse of immigration rights, such as Senate Bill 1070, and racial profiling and other discriminatory practices, as in a cases brought respectively against Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa Sheriff’s Office.

Also includes Arizona Civil Liberties Union Legislative Bulletin, 1962-1968.