These 20 Photos Of Arizona In The 1970s Are Mesmerizing
By Monica Spencer|Published March 03, 2016
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Monica Spencer
Author
Monica is a Diné (Navajo) freelance writer and photographer based in the Southwest. Born in Gallup and raised in Phoenix, she is Tódich'ii'nii (Bitter Water People) and Tsi'naajinii (Black Streak Wood People). Monica is a staff writer for Only In Your State, photo editor for The Mesa Legend, and previously a staff writer for The Navajo Post. You can reach her at monica.d.spencer@gmail.com.
As a kid, I absolutely loved flipping through old photo albums, especially the ones that showed my parents in their youth. Hopeful, young and ready to take on the world, I had a chance to see Arizona (and, at times, Utah and New Mexico) in a way that we rarely ever see in the history books. That’s why when I came across this collection of photographs from the U.S. National Archives that show off Arizona in the 1970s, I just had to feature them in an article.
I have to admit; I came across so many beautiful examples of photography in 1970s Arizona that I had a difficult time keeping the number down to something that won’t take forever for your computer to load. So, let’s take a trip down memory lane!
1. What better way to start this journey than with an image of Arizona as seen on the old Southwest Limited in 1974?
2. Just a decade before, Arizona's population boomed in a way the area had never seen before. This shows one of the results of that growth: the desert and its natural environment getting bulldozed for housing development.
4. Noted by the photographer as a solar energy researcher and expert, this man shows off a solar passive method of heating water. In this case, it was used for his swimming pool in Tucson.
