Telling It like It Was: Interviews with Arizona Pioneer Women

Sun Valley Lodge 12415 N. 103rd Ave., Sun City, AZ, United States

During the Depression, the Federal Writers Project conducted interviews with over 144 women who arrived in the Arizona Territory between 1850 and 1890. The women spoke of their long and dangerous journeys and with their words paint pictures of the hardships and life-threatening situations of their frontier existence. Through hard work, dedication, tenacity, and humor, […]

Free

Armed with Our Language, We Went to War:  The Navajo Code Talkers

Prescott Centennial Center 1989 Clubhouse Drive, Prescott, AZ, United States

During WWII a select group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines with a unique weapon.  Using the Navajo language, they devised a secret code that the enemy never deciphered.  For over 40 years a cloak of secrecy hung over the Code Talker’s service until the code was declassified and they were finally honored […]

Free

Saving the Great American West:  The Story of George Bird Grinnell

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

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes.  Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.”  Grinnell […]

Free

Written in Thread: Arizona Women’s History Preserved in Their Quilts

Bullion Plaza Cultural Center and Museum 1 Plaza Circle, Miami, AZ, United States

Join Stevenson as she traces Arizona history through women who recorded pieces of their lives in their needlework.  Beginning with 1860s Mexican women, through 1990s Hopi women, this presentation introduces women who pioneered Arizona through quilts they stitched. Some of the women featured are Atanacia Santa Cruz Hughes, Tucson; Viola Slaughter, Southeastern Arizona; Alice Gillette Haught, […]

Free

Along the California Trail

Maricopa Historical Conference 37860 W. Smith-Enke Road, Maricopa, AZ, United States

An ancient set of Indian paths and the natural flow of the Gila River created a major artery for travel through Arizona. The Gila provided a ready route for the earliest traders, including Toltecs of Mexico, who traded with the Mogollon, Anasazi and Hohokam. This program focuses on the varied travelers along this route—their struggles, […]

Free

Saving the Great American West:  The Story of George Bird Grinnell

Pima County Public Library, Dusenberry-River Branch, 5605 E. River Road #105, Tucson, AZ, United States

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes.  Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.”  Grinnell […]

Free

The Quest for Religious Otherness: Medieval Mysticism and Modern Spirituality

Monte Vista Village Resort 8865 E. Baseline Rd., Mesa, AZ, United States

The human quest for spirituality is an eternal tradition, and we are as much engaged in this quest now as we were centuries ago. This presentation will explore medieval mysticism, one of the most powerful, but also often misunderstood, phenomena of the Middle Ages. Mysticism provided medieval religious women with tremendous spiritual power, as well […]

Free

Growing Up Chicana in Morenci, Arizona

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

“Growing Up Chicana in Morenci, Arizona” is a plática (informal talk) about Chicanas who lived in the mining town of Morenci, Arizona, during the early to middle 1900s. Through historic photographs, readings from Suffer Smoke and Water from the Moon, and oral history interviews, Björkquist portrays the lives of girls and women of Morenci. Audience […]

Free

Archaeology’s Deep Time Perspective on Environment and Social Sustainability

San Tan Historical Society Museum 20425 S. Old Ellsworth Road, Queen Creek, AZ, United States

The deep time perspective that archaeology, geology, and related disciplines provide about natural hazards, environmental change, and societal development often is ignored when today’s societies make decisions affecting social sustainability and human safety. Studies of ancient peoples and natural events can help modern society deal with problems of environmental and social change, overpopulation, and sustainability. […]

Free

Riding with the Duke: John Wayne in Arizona

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

John Wayne was born in Iowa and lived for most of his adult life in California. Yet, he spent many years exploring, living, and investing in Arizona, where he produced his own films, raised cattle, operated a game ranch, and was seemingly everywhere at once. Wayne remains an iconic presence in American popular culture. In […]

Free

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