About Us

COCHISE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Founded 1966
A 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the study of the history of Cochise County and to the publication of the Cochise County Historical Journal

Photo of Krentz Ranch 1907 on page 31

Ranch Life, the Border Country 1880-1940 The Way It Really Was

The Cochise Quarterly Vol 12 No. 1 1982

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Congratulations to Janolyn Lo Vecchio ! Her article, Jesse Bevan: From Boarding House to State House, published in the Fall/Winter 2008 Cochise County Historical Journal won 2nd place for this year's Coke Wood award. The prestigious Coke Wood award is given annually by Westerners International. She will be accepting her award at the Western History Association Conference October 7-10, 2009, in Denver. In honor of her award, CCHS is making available a PDF file of the complete F/W 2008 Journal here:
Fall/Winter 2008 Cochise County Historical Journal

Membership Form We encourage and value all members. Please click on the link above and print out a membership form. Not only does your membership entitle you to our journals, but you help support on-going and upcoming projects of CCHS to advance the history of Cochise County. We are working to install a plaque at the Douglas International Airport in June, 2008, to commemorate First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's dedication in 1933. We have previously installed plaques at Sulphur Springs Valley, Rucker Canyon, and other sites. We would like to do more. We also want to work more with the schools in promoting Cochise County history. Another project involves working with the county on historic jails in Pearce and Bowie. If you have any ideas, please let us know. If you would like to get involved, we can use your help. We are a county-wide organization and seek to represent all of the county. Thank you.

COCHISE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

(CCHS)

The Cochise County Historical Society was founded in 1966 as the Cochise County Historical and Archaeological Society in Douglas, Arizona. At that time,noted archaeologist Charles DiPeso and others, including those affiliated with Cochise College, were active in exploring archaeological finds in Cochise County.

Publication of the Cochise County Historical Quarterly began around 1971 as a quarterly publication. Around that time, tax-exempt IRS status was granted. For a number of years, CCHS maintained a small museum in Douglas with various artifacts.

In the 1990s the archaeological part of CCHS’s mission was dropped,and the museum closed. Most of the CCHS collection was dispersed to other museums around the county.

The CCHS office moved to the Douglas/Williams House in Douglas around 1998. (The Douglas Historical Society is primarily responsible for operation and maintenance of the Douglas/Williams House, which is owned by the Arizona Historical Society (state of Arizona).) The office is still there, where CCHS rents a room. CCHS does have an extensive photo collection, some of which has been catalogued. We also have a book collection.

Our main mission is to work to preserve the history of Cochise County by publishing our journal, now published twice a year. We encourage the study of history in Cochise County. The journal is intended to have articles of scholarly interest, but not be strictly academic. Local writers are encouraged.

In the past—and hopefully, in the near future—we have had programs involving school children writing little stories about their families’ history. We also have honored “Guardians of History” whose work on behalf of Cochise County history is worthy ofrecognition.

We hope to begin a newsletter and website, www.cochisecountyhistory.org,that will convey items of current events and activities involving history inCochise County.

We do partner with Pat Bennett, who maintains a website, www.mycochise.com. Mycochise.com is a wonderful database of much historical information about Cochise County. CochiseCountyHistory.org is oriented to more current topics and may involve putting our journals and photos on-line. Its exact role is still evolving, but pod casts and a blog are other possibilities.

Cochise County has a diverse and glorious history. We have more mammoth kill sites than just about anywhere else in the US. Native Americans,Spaniards, pioneers, outlaws and mining all have left a legacy here.

When one thinks of Cochise County, Geronimo, Cochise, Ft. Bowie and Ft. Huachuca,Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday, Tombstone, copper mining and cattle ranching are just some of the things that come to mind. There is enough history here, so we do not need to embellish our past. We just find it exciting enough we want to make it accessible, accurate, and visible.