Since the initial impetus to collect, preserve, and interpret history with the intent of safeguarding American heritage for posterity, historical societies have made substantial contributions to the preservation of historical records. Historical societies have tended to originate in socially exclusive groups and found history museums, celebratory in nature. In contemporary society, this exclusivity raises issues and concerns for contemporary institutions seeking to "serve the public." Tempe History Museum, Chandler Museum, and Scottsdale Historical Museum are examples of local history museums, initially formed by historical societies, which are currently at different stages of developing exhibits and collections more representative of their diverse communities. The three museums have different approaches to not only defining their local community but also to what it means to serve and represent their city by being the local history museum. In recent years, the Tempe History Museum has undergone a renovation of its facility and exhibits, the Chandler Museum is in the midst of transferring its collection to the City of Chandler and planning for a new facility, and the Scottsdale Historical Museum has remained largely the same since the early 1990s. The decisions made by the historical societies that found these museums have shaped and directed the museums' paths to becoming, or failing to become, relevant to their local communities. The Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale historical societies came from the Anglo-community within each city, so did the collections they acquired and the objects they displayed. At a time of rising social history, the historical societies presented socially exclusive museums. Becoming incorporated within the city government, would prove to be the point of change, the tipping point when the history museums moved from particularism to pluralism. The change, however, did not come overnight. It was change over time. The city governments had an obligation to equally represent its taxpayers and constituency, meaning that the newly incorporated museums had to eventually follow the same mission. In the case of Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale museums, incorporation within city governments has led to a stable funding source, professional staff, and a move towards representation of diverse communities within museum exhibits and programming.

This thesis examines the immediate post-World War II operational strategy of Valley National Bank of Arizona, a Phoenix-based institution in operation from 1899 until its 1992 acquisition by Ohio-based Banc One Corporation (now JPMorgan Chase). For the purposes of this study, the immediate post-war period is defined as 1944 to January 20, 1953, a span that opens with the bank's wartime planning efforts for the post-war period and ends with the 1953 retirement of bank president Walter Bimson. By the end of World War II, Valley National ranked as the largest financial institution in the eight-state Rocky Mountain region, as measured by total deposits. However, post-war regulatory issues, competitor expansion, and an inability to generate deposit volume sufficient to meet subject period loan demands challenged bank leaders seeking to maintain market share and grow company profitability and stock value. In response to these difficulties, the bank focused on a three-pronged operational strategy emphasizing advertising, market-appropriate deposit and loan product offerings, and an aggressive branching and acquisition campaign. This strategy did not result in unmitigated success as the bank did experience a decrease in average deposit account balances, lost mortgage market share, and undertook acquisition activity that later resulted in federal antitrust action. However, by the end of the subject period, the three-pronged strategy employed by the bank did result in an increase in deposit dollar market share, as measured by deposits controlled directly and indirectly by the institution, rising annual net profits, and substantial share price appreciation. The findings related to bank strategy and results presented in this thesis are based primarily upon information found in the 169-box Valley National Bank Collection housed at the Arizona Historical Society. Extensive newspaper research conducted using targeted date range and keyword searches and careful consideration of secondary source materials relating to the bank, the banking industry, and state, regional, and national politics, economics, and culture during the subject period provided additional information used in this study, and corroborated much of the material found in the Valley National Bank Collection files.

Civic identity in San Diego emerged first from a complex set of Native, Spanish and Mexican traditions. However, after 1850 Americans from the East coast and Midwest arrived and brought with them to San Diego a strong sense of how to both build and manage towns. These regional influences from other parts of the country carried over into the early twentieth century, and began to reshape civic identity and the first historic preservation movements in San Diego. This dissertation establishes San Diego's place in the scholarly literature of the urban West and historic preservation. After a brief background of San Diego history, this study begins with an explanation of the dual efforts at work in San Diego after 1945 to build for the future while preserving the past. Next, this study examines the partnerships formed and conflicts between promoters for development and advocates of preservation. The progression of historic preservation efforts in San Diego since WWII includes missed opportunities, lapses in historic authenticity, and divisions about what buildings or stories to preserve. This study describes how conflicts were resolved and explains the impact of those outcomes on historic preservation and authenticity. San Diego's history has much in common with many cities in the American West, but the historic narrative of San Diego also differs from other Western cities in several compelling ways. First, San Diego bears distinction as the oldest city in California and one of the oldest cities in the West. Second, historic preservation in San Diego has yet to be fully explored by scholars. Third, some of preservation conflicts explored in this study reveal distinct differences from preservation debates in other urban areas. Using government, organizational, and archival records, secondary sources, interviews, and personal observation, this dissertation explains how historic preservation in San Diego became an integral part of city planning, an expectation of residents and visitors, and a key feature of the city`s civic identity. This study contributes to Western scholarship by bringing San Diego into the literature of historic preservation and the urban West.