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 […]

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Sheep Ranchers and Herders of Arizona – Goodyear

Goodyear Total Wine & More Classroom 1416 N. Litchfield Rd., Goodyear, AZ, United States

Sheep ranching has been greatly overlooked in the history of Arizona. While it never will compete with the five “C’s”, it added a great deal to the economic diversity in the state. Many different ethnic groups settled here and raised sheep for a living weathering the economic downturns as well as the prosperous years. They […]

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Along the California Trail – Wellton

Yuma County Library District - Wellton Library 28790 San Jose Ave., Yuma, AZ, United States

An ancient set of Indian paths and the natural flow of the Gila River created a major artery for travel through pioneer Arizona. The Gila provided a route for the earliest traders, including Toltecs of Mexico, who traded with the Anasazi and Hohokam. The intrepid Padre Francisco Garces, performed missionary work during six excursions along […]

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John Wesley Powell: Into the Great Unknown (Phoenix)

Mesquite Branch - Phoenix Public Library 4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N, Phoenix, 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 […]

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Cowpokes, Crooks, and Cactus: Arizona in the Movies (Apache Junction)

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

Tyrone Power, Andy Devine,  Katy Jurado, Steve McQueen and, of course, John Wayne. From the earliest days of film, Arizona has been a setting and subject for hundreds of films. Some, like Junior Bonner and Red River, are considered classics, others, such as Billy Jack and Evolution, surely less so. Some may even be classics […]

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Wild, Weird, Wicked Arizona (El Mirage)

El Mirage Senior Center 14010 El Mirage Rd, El Mirage, 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 […]

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Women’s Bands in America Performing Music and Gender (Florence)

Florence Community Library 778 N. Main St., Florence, AZ, United States

Women's Bands in America is the first comprehensive exploration of women’s bands across the three centuries in American history. Sullivan will trace women's emerging roles in society as seen through women's bands—concert and marching—spanning three centuries of American history. The author will explore town, immigrant, industry, family, school, suffrage, military, jazz, and rock bands, adopting […]

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Empire to Las Cienegas NCA: Ranching and Historic Landscape Change (Sierra Vista)

Cochise College Benson Center 1025 S. Highway 90, Benson, 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

Set in Stone but Not in Meaning: Southwestern Indian Rock Art (Tucson)

Himmel Park Public Library 1035 N. Treat Avenue, Tucson, AZ, United States

Ancient Indian pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (symbols carved or pecked on rocks) are claimed by some to be forms of writing for which meanings are known. However, are such claims supported by archaeology or by Native Americans themselves? Mr. Dart illustrates southwestern petroglyphs and pictographs, and discusses how even the same rock art symbol […]

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Apaches and their Horses (Camp Verde)

Camp Verde Library 130 Black Bridge Lp Rd, Camp Verde, AZ, United States

It has been thought that the Apache do not become Apache until the adoption of the horse, which triggered the raiding adaptation. While horses played a central role in the Apachean world, the horse divide is not as pronounced as thought. Horses changed the ancestral Apache lifeway and horses survived and thrived without European horse […]

Free

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