Empire to Las Cienegas NCA: Ranching and Historic Landscape Change – Arivaca

Arivaca Old School House 17080 W. 4th St, Arivaca, AZ, United States

The Empire Ranch, built by Walter Vail and family, was one of the most financially successful and long-lived cattle enterprises in Arizona. For over 140 years, the owners of the Empire wisely managed its natural resources – soils, waters, and vegetation in the Cienega Valley. Today those grasslands are some of the richest and most […]

Free

Four Corners: The Southwest’s Cultural Crossroad – Patagonia

Patagonia Public Library 346 Duquesne, Patagonia, AZ, United States

From mammoth hunters and canal builders to Native Americans, Hispanics, Americans, Irish, Serbians, and just about every nationality under the sun, Arizona has always been a land of many cultures. And while the Earps and the Geronimo are world famous, Arizona can also be proud of its unsung men and women and cooperative communities. Here […]

Free

Arizona Stories: Frontier Characters and Communities – Prescott

Prescott Public Library 215 E. Goodwin St., Prescott, AZ, United States

From mammoth hunters and canal builders to Native Americans, Hispanics, Americans, Irish, Serbians, and just about every nationality under the sun, Arizona has always been a land of many cultures. And while the Earps and the Geronimo are world famous, Arizona can also be proud of its unsung men and women and cooperative communities. Here […]

Free

John Wesley Powell:  Into the Great Unknown – Apache Junction

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Millions of travelers visit the Grand Canyon each year, but just 150 years ago, this was still considered the “last blank spot on the map.” One man, a one-armed civil war veteran, was determined to navigate and document the Colorado River as it winds through the canyon. Therefore, on May 24, 1869, John Wesley Powell […]

Free

Wild, Weird, Wicked Arizona – Parker

Arizona Western College 1109 Geronimo Ave., Parker, AZ, United States

For a state that has been home to Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, César Chavez and Wonder Women, you would think Arizona earned some respect. Yet achieving statehood was a 50-year struggle, which finally ended on February 14, 1912. Jana borrows from both her work for True West Magazine and her work for Phoenix Magazine to put […]

Free

Arizona Kicks on Route 66 – Lake Havasu

Mohave Community College: Lake Havasu Campus 1977 Acoma Blvd, Lake Havasu City, AZ, United States

U.S. Route 66, known as the “Mother Road,” was built in 1926. It ran from Chicago to L. A. During the depression of the 1930s, it became the major path by which people migrated west, seeking work, warm weather and new opportunities. Shore shares the history of Route 66 in Arizona, including the impact it […]

Free

Wild, Weird, Wicked Arizona – Lake Havasu

Mohave County Library Lake Havasu Branch 1770 McCulloch Blvd N., Lake Havasu City, AZ, United States

For a state that has been home to Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, César Chavez and Wonder Women, you would think Arizona earned some respect. Yet achieving statehood was a 50-year struggle, which finally ended on February 14, 1912. Jana borrows from both her work for True West Magazine and her work for Phoenix Magazine to put […]

Free

Specters of the Past: Arizona’s Ghost Towns – Ajo

Salazar-Ajo Library 15 W. Plaza St. #179, Ajo, AZ, United States

The promise of unimagined riches is what brought many of the earliest colonizers to the Arizona Territory. Following the trail to the discovery of the mother lode, they built, then dismantled and finally abandoned communities when mines played out – leaving behind tantalizing clues of difficult hardships. Some towns survived like Bisbee, Jerome, Tombstone and […]

Free

Arizona Goes to the Moon – Phoenix

Burton Barr Central Library 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ, United States

Arizona played a key role in preparing to send humans to the moon in the late 1960s/ early 1970s. The Apollo astronauts themselves traveled to the Grand Canyon and volcanic fields around the state to learn geology and practice their lunar excursions. Meanwhile, U.S. Geological Survey engineers worked with NASA staff members to develop and […]

Free

Women of the Arizona State Prison – Phoenix

Agave Library 23550 N. 36th Ave., Phoenix, AZ, United States

Winnie Ruth Judd, Eva Dugan, Dr. Rose Boido, and Eva Wilbur Cruz all shared one thing in common. They were all incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison in Florence. These women were players in both the sensational stories that made national headlines and local stories that made Arizona history. Who were these women and how […]

Free

Fill out the info below to sign up for our E-Newsletter.