Three Generations of the American Indian Boarding School Experience

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument - Visitor Center Theater 1100 W Ruins Drive, Coolidge, AZ, United States

Water is necessary for life, but as supply shrinks, choices must be made about who is given access to water and who isn’t. Communities across Arizona are going dry. This means that some residents may have no choice except to move. How do we decide who gets access to water, and who does not? Should […]

Hyenas in Petticoats: How Women Struggled Against Every Trick in the Books to Win the Vote!

​Ironwood Library 4333 E. Chandler Blvd., Phoenix, AZ, United States

As we celebrate the 100th birthday of the 19th Amendment in 2020, it’s time to look back at the enormous effort it took for women to be granted full citizenship and the vote. History has downplayed suffrage, as if it were just a footnote in American history, when in fact, it was the nation’s largest […]

Honky Tonks, Brothels, and Mining Camp: Entertainment in Old Arizona

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

In pioneer Arizona, among the best places to experience the performing arts were in the mining towns. Striking it rich meant having disposable income, and miners, like the well-heeled of the Gilded Age, wanted to demonstrate their sophistication with culture. From the early popular music of ragtime and minstrelsy during the forming of these communities, […]

Honky Tonks, Brothels and Mining Camps: Entertainment in Old Arizona

Cochise College Benson Center 1025 S. Highway 90, Benson, AZ, United States

In pioneer Arizona, among the best places to experience the performing arts were in the mining towns. Striking it rich meant having disposable income, and miners, like the well-heeled of the Gilded Age, wanted to demonstrate their sophistication with culture. From the early popular music of ragtime and minstrelsy during the forming of these communities, […]

Shadow Catchers: 150 Years of Arizona Photography

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

For more than a century and a half some of the world’s best photographers focused their lenses on Arizona. In addition to the renowned Edward S. Curtis, Kate Cory lived with the Hopi and represented them in photographs and on canvas, while C. S. Fly gave us the famous Geronimo pictures. In the 20th century […]

The Ballad of Arizona

ASU Colleges at Lake Havasu City, ASU Gym 100 University Way, Lake Havasu Ctiy, AZ, United States

Originally conceived to celebrate Arizona’s Centennial in 2012, “The Ballad of Arizona” has been updated to provide a more complete survey of important, but often little-known, chapters of Arizona’s unique history. A blend of music, video, and lecture, “The Ballad of Arizona” is similar to “A Prairie Home Companion” but with an Arizona twist. The […]

More than Pocahontas and Squaws: Indigenous Women Coming into Visibility

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument - Visitor Center Theater 1100 W Ruins Drive, Coolidge, AZ, United States

This visual presentation shows how Indigenous American women have contributed service to Arizona and the US, yet remain invisible in the media and stereotyped in early films. Nevertheless, they have been honored in all areas of public service—law, medicine, literature, military, education, and activism with awards such as, the Presidential Freedom, the McArthur (genius award), […]

Arizona: A History of Snake Oil Salesmen, Scams and Hoaxes

Arizona Western College / Parker Learning Center 1109 Geronimo Avenue, Parker, AZ, United States

Since the earliest days, Arizonans have been visited by entrepreneurs offering all kinds of get rich quick schemes. Benefitting from tales of abundant resources in the territory, limited law enforcement and communication, a scoundrel could create enticing promise of riches and success without much external oversight. Newspapers often fanned the hysteria only to later denounce […]

The Vanishing Trading Posts

Church of the Nazarene 55 Rojo Dr, Sedona

“The Vanishing Trading Posts” presents a snapshot of life in the southwest that has disappeared. In a little over one hundred years, trading posts in the Four Corners were founded, traders and Native Americans flourished, and then the posts faded away. The challenges and unexpected gifts of cross-cultural exchange and stories of trading family dynasties […]

WWII’s Women Air Force Pilots (WASP): A History of America’s First Military Women Aviators

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

Natalie J. Stewart-Smith has been an educator for over 25 years and taught at the elementary, high school, and college levels. As a former Army officer and historian, she is interested in women’s contributions to the military, particularly those who served as military aviators. During World War II over one thousand women served as Women […]

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