Become a Dentist, Avoid Jury Duty!

Well, not anymore. It was true in 1913, though. Section 4766 of the 1913 Civil Code stated:

The exemption did not apply to medical doctors or optometrists, who were also regulated by the 1913 Code. However, Section 4810 made pharmacists exempt from jury duty too.

Although the provisions regulating dentistry were amended multiple times, the jury duty exemption didn’t appear again. The legislative practice at the time seems to have been to repeal entire articles and adopt new language rather than amend existing laws. That’s what happened at Laws 1929, Chapter 11 (pp. 23-32 {81-90}) and again at Laws 1935, Chapter 24 (pp. 42-57 {102-117}).

The pharmacists still had their exemption in 1935 (Laws 1935, Chapter 25, §23 {p. 87 [147]}), in 1951 (Laws 1951, Chapter 73 {pp. 172-195 [220-243]}), and in the 1952 Supplement to the 1939 Code (Section 67-1524), but it disappeared when the Arizona Revised Statutes was compiled in 1956 and the provisions governing pharmacists were renumbered to appear where they do now, starting at A.R.S. §§32-1901. You can read the Session Laws and the Journals that record legislative action here.

Dentists are now regulated by the Board of Dental Examiners. The statutes start at Arizona Revised Statutes §§32-1201. In addition, regulatory rules add details to the licensing procedure and include other professions related to dentistry.

As you can see from these old ads from the 1955-1956 Arizona Dental Journal, dentistry has changed a lot. You can see some of those changes by viewing the regulations from 1974 in our collection, the Substantive Policy Statements from the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners, and the Procedural Reviews from the Arizona Office of the Auditor General.

Meet Rosa McKay: Champion of Women’s Rights & Minimum Wage

Born in Colorado in 1880/1881 and a resident of Arizona beginning in 1904, Mrs. McKay (as she was known to her colleagues and in legislative records of the time) served 3 terms as a member in the Arizona House of Representatives. In those years, the Legislature customarily met in alternating years, and McKay represented Cochise County in 1917 and Gila County in 1919 and 1923.

Rosa McKay is best known for securing the passage of a minimum wage act for women. She introduced it for the first time as a new legislator in 1917. House Bill 3 provided that women must be paid a weekly wage of at least $10. It was signed into law by Governor Thomas E Campbell on March 8, 1917.

The enactment of the legislation was celebrated with sandwiches. As noted in the Journal of the House, p. 542 (pp. 1165-1166 of PDF):

The law was published in the Session Laws as Laws 1917, Chapter 38 (pp. 51-52) but was challenged and struck down.

Rosa McKay was undeterred. She introduced it again in 1919, revising the minimum wage to $20 per week. H. B. 5 failed in the House. She tried again in 1923. House Bill 36, setting a wage of $16 per week, was adopted and published as Laws 1923, Chapter 3 (pp. 6-7). Violations were punishable by a fine of not less than $50 or imprisonment in the county jail for not less than 10 days. However, in April 1923, the United State Supreme Court ruled that minimum wage laws were unconstitutional. Nevertheless, Rosa McKay was fondly remembered in Arizona, credited for the minimum wage law and other measures championing social issues.

In 1923 she was a candidate for Speaker of the House but withdrew in favor of Dan Jones of Maricopa County “in the best interests of Democracy and the State of Arizona”. In addition, she served for 8 years on the Board of Visitors of Tempe Normal School (which later became Arizona State University), as a member of the Child Welfare Board, and as a delegate to the national convention in New York City. She was awarded an honorary membership of the Boy Scouts of America.

She died at age 53 in 1934. The state flag was lowered to half-staff in her honor.

Research tip: Societies and Organizations

Societies and organizations can provide a clue to city life for both sociological and biographical researchers. Membership in the Elks, Masons, International Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World and similar societies can help genealogists make sense of their ancestors’ after-hours activities.

In this case, the Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner published a report of a Chautauqua group meeting in Prescott.  Chautauqua meetings were part of a national system of adult education featuring lectures, musical performers, and religious preachers. It had both local chapters and a tent-show circuit. Prescott’s appears to be a local, or “daughter,” chapter.

Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner, 1888-08-08