Thinking about the American Southwest with Scott Warren

San Tan Valley Library - Bronze Room (Building A) 31505 N Schnepft Road, San Tan Valley, United States

For many of us, the American Southwest is distinctive because of its landscape, culture, and history. We see, for instance, its mountains, deserts, and canyons. We are aware of its diverse cultures. And we have some understanding of the Indigenous, Mexican, and U.S. histories that have brought us to the present moment. But a careful […]

Caretakers of the Land: A Story of Farming and Community in San Xavier with Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan

Tohono Chul Park 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, Tucson, AZ, United States

Farming has always been the way of life for the Tohono O’odham community in San Xavier, located just south of Tucson. Their way of life depended on access to the land and to the water, namely the Santa Cruz River, which nourished agriculture in the area for generations. But a history of division sown through […]

Maria Urquides: Mother of Bilingual Education with Jan Cleere

Pima County Public Library - Oro Valley Library Branch 1305 W. Naranja Drive, Oro Valley, Arizona

Maria Urquides’ Hispanic background made her the ideal teacher for Arizona’s bilingual schools, although she readily admitted she might go to hell for being ordered to punish students for speaking Spanish in the classroom. She stepped on more than a few administrative toes to attain her goal of promoting bilingual/bicultural education to children of all […]

Arizona Water Use from Prehistory to the Present with Jim Turner

Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church 6502 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek, AZ, United States

This presentation covers humankind’s water use and food supply interactions with Arizona’s ecology from Clovis culture hunter-gatherers to prehistoric irrigation canals, contemporary Hopi and Tohono O’odham dry farming, and present-day American farmers. We will examine how overhunting and climate change affected the wooly mammoth populations and the agriculture experiments that followed. From early attempts to […]

100 Years Grand – The Story of Arizona Highways Magazine with Win Holden

The Palace 116 N. RailRoad Ave, Willcox, AZ, United States

April 2025 will mark Arizona Highways magazine’s 100th birthday. How did a brochure produced by the Arizona Highway Department become one of the most revered travel publications in the world? How has Arizona Highways remained relevant for a century while other national magazines have failed? Former Arizona Highways Publisher, Win Holden, will share the inside […]

Arizona Water Use from Prehistory to Present with Jim Turner

Viney Jones Library and Community Center 778 N Main Street, Florence, AZ, United States

This presentation covers humankind’s water use and food supply interactions with Arizona’s ecology from Clovis culture hunter-gatherers to prehistoric irrigation canals, contemporary Hopi and Tohono O’odham dry farming, and present-day American farmers. We will examine how overhunting and climate change affected the wooly mammoth populations and the agriculture experiments that followed. From early attempts to […]

100 Years Grand – The Story of Arizona Highways Magazine with Win Holden

Ed Robson Branch Library 9330 E. Riggs Rd., Sun Lakes, AZ, United States

April 2025 will mark Arizona Highways magazine’s 100th birthday. How did a brochure produced by the Arizona Highway Department become one of the most revered travel publications in the world? How has Arizona Highways remained relevant for a century while other national magazines have failed? Former Arizona Highways Publisher, Win Holden, will share the inside […]

Arizona’s Vintage Signs: Lighting the Future with Marshall Shore

Copper Queen Library 6 Main St., Bisbee, AZ, United States

Arizona has become a hotbed of preserving vintage signage and neon. No wonder, with the rise of Arizona and automobile travel in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Thousands of people were traversing the broad expanses of highways and byways across the Southwest. As the cars sped past, restaurants, motels, curio shops and gas stations needed […]

Disruption, Subversion, & Agency: A Brief History of Zines with Rosemarie Dombrowski

Southeast Regional Library 775 N Greenfield Rd, Gilbert, AZ, United States

This presentation explores the origins of zine culture – self-published, hand-bound, small- circulation publications that gave voice to historically marginalized populations – beginning with the fascicles of Emily Dickinson and the Little Magazines of the early 20th century, continuing through the Mimeo Poets of the mid-century to the punk phenomenon of the Riot Grrrls in […]

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