These photographs were mostly taken from the ADMMR Mining collection, records on mineral resource exploration and mining in Arizona from late 1800s to the early 2000s. Photographs principally relate to a mineral locality reported in the Arizona Mineral Industry Location System. Photographs titled "ADMMR" document the history of the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources, making up a little over 10 percent of the collection. Items were arranged alphabetically by prints and negatives, then slides and lastly Polaroids. The hyphenated number at the end of each title refers to the old numbering system employed by our dedicated volunteers and should not be confused with a mine's name.

This inventory describes photos taken by A. L. Flagg during his travels as a mining engineer over the period 1905 to 1955 and they capture life in developing western North America. The photographs were largely identified using notes made by A.L. Flagg, research of ADMMR’s mine files and mining periodicals of the time. Principle photograph locations are in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Rhode Island, and Washington along with Durango and Oaxaca, Mexico. Arthur Leonard Flagg was born June 29, 1883, the son of Charles Welford and Anna R. (Daley) Flagg. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology at Brown University in 1906. As a young mining engineer Arthur Flagg followed Horace Greeley’s advice and went west. He worked at assaying, surveying, and mining in Yavapai County, Arizona, during 1906 and 1907. From 1908 to 1912 he held a position as mine examiner in Durango, Mexico. In 1912, Arthur Flagg went into private practice as consulting engineer in Washington and Idaho. In 1913, he became manager of the Kelvin Sultana Copper Company, a position which he held until taking over as receiver of the Company in 1916. He resumed his private practice in Arizona in 1919. He has also held the positions of director of the Ace Mineral and Development Company, consulting engineer of the Gallagher Vanadium and Rare Mineral Corporation, and vice president of the Mines Holding Company. Mr. Flagg was appointed superintendent of the Mineral Department of the Arizona State Fair in 1946. In 1949, he became the mineral museum curator for the Arizona Department of Mineral Resources. In 1953, he turned 70, the retirement age for State employees, so several mining companies combined resources to pay his salary to keep him in the position of curator of the mineral museum. He contributed to many organizations including: Sigma Chi fraternity; American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Institute of Mining Engineers; Arizona Academy of Sciences; American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers; Arizona Small Mine Operators and the Heard Museum Board. He was also president of the Mineralogical Society of Arizona, the Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies, and the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies. He was co-founder of the first two. Mr. Flagg was the author of many contributions to mineral and mining publications and two books: Rockhounds & Arizona Minerals and Mineralogical Journeys in Arizona.

This collection of photos shows the Richinbar mine in the 1930s and a revisit to the mine in 1957 by the Wheeler family. Carlton Wheeler graduated from the University of Oklahoma after WWI and worked as a geologist in Texas before moving his family to Arizona and working for the Richinbar mine. Most of the photos were taken in '33, '34, and '35. The Richinbar mine stopped operations in 1937.

Walter Heinrichs, Jr. was a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines with a major in geophysics in 1940. His early career was spent in Oklahoma and Texas. He was the co-discoverer of the Pima Mine in southern Arizona using geophysical techniques and went on to co-found the Heinrichs GEOEXploration Company in Tucson in 1958. The company was active until 2011. Walter was active in several professional geological organizations and received numerous awards for his contributions to the profession. For further details, see his book, The Pima Mine Story, (2000).

Edwin Noel Pennebaker received a B.S. in economic geology from University of California in 1924 and later went on to graduate studies. From the mid 1920s until the mid 1980s, he worked mainly as a consulting geologist for numerous companies around the globe. During the period 1935 to 1976, he consulted for a number of companies in Arizona. After 1985, he was Director Emeritus of Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, Wallace, ID. This collection of economic geologic reports focuses predominantly on Arizona.

Much of the data was originally derived from Arizona Department of Mines and Minerals files. Doug Martin was a Phoenix area mining consultant during the 1980s and was Arizona’s State Mine Inspector during the 1990s - 2000s.

George M. Colvocoresses was a mining engineer and metallurgist in Arizona. He was General Manager of Southwest Metals Company, Humboldt, AZ. It acquired Consolidated Arizona Smelting Company by the end of 1921. In 1920, Colvocoresses was appointed receiver for Consolidated Arizona Smelting Company out of Phoenix. This collection is comprised mainly of his reports on field visits or submittals from approximately 300 Arizona properties and 100 more properties in the Southwest. Subsequent additions to the collection after the 1940s came from his son, Alden P. Colvocoresses, or Bill Allison of Allison Steel Company.

Roland Mulchay was the chief geologist for the Anaconda mining company at Cananea. He either examined or received submittals and professional reports on many properties located in the southwestern U.S., northern Mexico and throughout the world. He was employed by Anaconda Mining Company and subsidiaries 1925 –1966. He retired as Assistant Chief Geologist February 1966. He then worked as a consulting geologist on various projects in United States, Mexico and South America. The collected files principally cover Arizona, Utah and Mexico.