Finding Aid to James Addison Reavis and the Peralta Claim MS.635
Finding aid prepared by Holly Rose Larson
Autry National Center, Braun Research Library
2012 October 25
234 Museum Drive
Los Angeles, CA, 90065-5030
323-221-2164
rroom@theautry.org
Title: James Addison Reavis and the Peralta Claim
Identifier/Call Number: MS.635
Contributing Institution:
Autry National Center, Braun Research Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
0.1 linear feet
(1 folder)
Date: 1942 May
Abstract: This is a thesis entitled "James Addison Reavis and the Peralta Claim" by Newton A. Johnson. It was presented to the Department
of History, University of Southern California in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Arts in May
1942. The appendix to the thesis includes copies of legal documents from 1883-1895, photographs, and a map.
creator:
Johnson, Newton A.
James Addison Reavis (1843-1914) arrived in Arizona in 1882 and filed claim on more than twelve million acres of land in Arizona
and New Mexico based on altered Spanish land grant documents; he gained fame as the "Baron of Arizona." He served a short
term in a New Mexico prison, then returned to Arizona under the alias J.A. Ashley-Reavis.
This is a thesis entitled "James Addison Reavis and the Peralta Claim" by Newton A. Johnson. It was presented to the Department
of History, University of Southern California in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Arts in May
1942. The appendix to the thesis includes copies of legal documents from 1883-1895, photographs, and a map.
Reavis was a swindler and forger, famous for attempting to fraudulently obtain 7,500 sq. miles of Arizona Territory by falsifying
documents in Mexico and Spain to show a Spanish land grant to Don Miguel Peralta in 1748.
James Addison Reavis and the Peralta Claim, 1942, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry National Center, Los Angeles; MS.635.
Processed by Glenna Schroeder, circa 1977-1981. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist, 2012
October 25, made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).
Donated by Newton A. Johnson, 1942 June.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry National Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Autry Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry National Center
as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
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Subjects and Indexing Terms
Reavis, James Addison, 1843-1914
Arizona -- History
Dissertations, Academic
Fraud -- Arizona
Land grants -- Arizona
Peralta (N.M.)
Peralta grant
Swindlers and swindling -- Arizona