AZ Speaks

While doing research on our centennial book, Lisa Schnebly Heidinger developed a treasure trove of anecdotes that wove through the tapestry Arizona, and can custom fit a presentation to any […]

Martha Summerhayes was a refined New England woman who entered the Arizona Territory in 1874 as the young bride of an Army Lieutenant. Traveling in horrific conditions and dreadful heat, […]

Where lies the cure to diabetes? “Ask the prickly pear, or the mesquite bean pod…maybe they will tell you.” This is the answer you may hear from elder instructors of […]

With the exception of the most ardent collectors and older generation, the influence and legacy of the big bands is largely forgotten despite their overwhelming popularity and significant role in […]

With the exception of the most ardent collectors and older generation, the influence and legacy of the big bands is largely forgotten despite their overwhelming popularity and significant role in […]

What makes us laugh? What do commedia dell’arte, the Marx Brothers, and the latest TV sitcom have in common? Even though the subjects of humor are highly cultural, the ways […]

The 1930s and 1940s were the era of Western singing cowboys like Rex Allen, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Herb Jefferies was the African-American singing cowboy, appearing in movies and […]

Featuring a documentary that tells the stories of early African American cotton pickers in El Mirage and in other regions of Arizona, this presentation explores the lives of African Americans […]

In many Southwestern matrifocal cultures, Indigenous women’s lives are modeled after female heroes and sacred women who exemplify and express courage and kinship values. Among some tribal cultures, rites of […]

Tombstone, which had a reputation, as one of the West’s wildest mining towns, owes its beginning to Ed Schieffelin, who prospected the nearby hills. From nearby Fort Huachuca, Schieffelin told […]