TITLE: Yuma County Chamber of Commerce Collection
DATE RANGE: 1950 – 2000
CALL NUMBER: Y-MS 56
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8.5 linear feet (12 boxes)
PROVENANCE: Unknown
COPYRIGHT: Unknown
RESTRICTIONS: This collection is unrestricted.
CREDIT LINE: Yuma County Chamber of Commerce Collection, Y-MS 56, Yuma County Library District
PROCESSED BY: Benjamin Findley, May 2014
HISTORICAL NOTE: The Yuma Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1905 to represent the interests of local business owners. From the beginning, the Chamber has promoted Yuma as a place to visit and live. In 1925 it created Fly Field, the first airport in the City of Yuma. In 1954 the chamber played a major role in convincing the Baltimore Orioles, a major league baseball team, to hold their spring training in Yuma. Other projects include developing a convention center, building a desalinization plant, organizing various conferences, and supporting a wide range of civic initiatives.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: The bulk of this collection is material generated by various Yuma Chamber of Commerce committees from the 1960s to mid-1980s. It includes newsletters, correspondence, and news clippings. Folders are arranged alphabetically within each series and chronologically within each folder.
The collection is organized into five series:
Series I – General: This series contains an assortment of material including weather data for the Yuma area published by the National Weather Service and information about several Chamber projects.
Series II – Committees: This series documents a wide range of committee activities. The bulk of the materials are meeting minutes and newsletters sent to committee members. It also includes background information about public policy issues that the Chamber followed and correspondence written by and to committee members. Of interest are meeting minutes, correspondence and membership lists from the Hotel and Motel Association.
Series III – Publications: This series includes published material used by or created by the Chamber. This includes material such as visitor guides, geological reports, and tourist attraction materials. Also in this collection are Chamber member surveys and several copies of the Chamber-gram, an informational news sheet published by the chamber,
Series IV – Photographs: This series contains photographs of a convention held in Yuma. The photographs are unidentified, some of which may be unrelated to that event. Many other photographs taken by the Chamber of Commerce can be found in the Subject Photograph Collection.
Series V – Scrapbooks: This series contains a number of large scrapbooks. The scrapbooks consist primarily of news clippings related to the Yuma Chamber of Commerce but also include letters, pamphlets, and assorted memorabilia.
CONTAINER LIST:
| Box | Folder | Title | Dates |
| 1 | 1 | General: Aviation Conference | n.d. |
| 2 | General: Climate Data | 1981 – 1988 | |
| 3 | General: Convention Center | 1969 – 1974, n.d. | |
| 4 | General: Desalinization Plant | 1965 – 1974, n.d. | |
| 5 | Committees: Agriculture Committee | 1964 – 1996 | |
| 6 | Committees: Agriculture Committee | 1964 – 1996 | |
| 7 | Committees: Ambassadors Committee | 1970 – 1980 | |
| 8 | Committees: Aviation Committee | 1964 – 1999 | |
| 2 | 1 | Committees: Aviation Committee | 1964 – 1999 |
| 2 | Committees: Better Business Committee | 1965 – 1967 | |
| 3 | Committees: Convention and Visitors Bureau | 1964 – 1976 | |
| 4 | Committees: Convention and Visitors Bureau | 1964 – 1976 | |
| 5 | Committees: Drug Abuse Control Committee | 1972 – 1974, n.d. | |
| 6 |
Committees:
Economic and Job Development Committee |
1964 – 1977 | |
| 7 | Committees: Economic Control Committee | 1980 | |
| 3 | 1 | Committees: Hotel/Motel Association | 1956 – 1971 |
| 2 | Committees: Hotel/Motel Association | 1971 – 1975 | |
| 3 | Committees: Hotel/Motel Association | 1975 – 1980 | |
| 4 | Committees: Hotel/Motel Association | 1980 – 1986, n.d. | |
| 4 | 1 | Committees: Legislative Committee | 1967 – 1977 |
| 2 | Committees: Legislative Committee | 1977 – 1986, n.d. | |
| 3 | Committees: Tax Review Committee | 1971 – 1974, n.d. | |
| 4 | Committees: Visitors Bureau Committee | 1981 – 1986, n.d. | |
| 5 | Photographs | n.d. | |
| 5 | 1 | Publications | 1950 – 1984 |
| 2 | Publications | 1954 – 1983 | |
| 3 | Publications | 1956 | |
| 4 | Publications | 1965 | |
| 6 | 1 | Publications | 1966 |
| 2 | Publications: Chamber-gram | 1961 – 1963 | |
| 3 | Publications: Surveys | 1964 – 1976 | |
| 7 | Scrapbooks | 1959 – 1937 | |
| 8 | Scrapbooks | 1960 – 1961 | |
| 9 | Scrapbooks | 1966 – 1969 | |
| 10 | Scrapbooks | 1969 – 1972 | |
| 11 | Scrapbooks | 1973 – 1980 | |
| 12 | Scrapbooks | 1981 – 1986 |
