The Navajo people of old were forced to leave their homes and walk over 450 miles to Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico where they were imprisoned on a small reservation. For four long years the Navajo people faced hunger, loneliness, disorientation, illnesses, severe environmental conditions, and hopelessness. Navajo women were forced to become warriors. […]
The first issue of Arizona Highways magazine was published in April, 1925. In this presentation, former publisher Win Holden will share the fascinating story of how a brochure produced by the Arizona Highway Department evolved into one of the most respected and revered publications in the world. With annual economic impact of over $65 million, […]
Six hundred miles long from its source in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River above Yuma, the Gila has been an important avenue for the movement of birds, animals, plants, and peoples across the desert for millennia. Many cultures have sprung up on its banks, and millions of […]
A 1960 episode of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, the first Western television series, immortalized China Mary as a strong, powerful and ruthless Asian female figure in American popular imagination. The legend of her as an infamous Dragon Lady who ruled Tombstone’s Chinatown with an iron fist cannot be substantiated by historical research. […]
During the night of Christmas Eve in 1944, twenty-five Nazi German prisoners of war escaped from Papago Park POW camp on the outskirts of Phoenix and headed towards Mexico. These men were hardcore Nazis, ex U-boat commanders, and submariners, who had successfully dug a nearly 200-foot underground tunnel that took four months to complete. Many […]
The Arizona-Mexico border is a line of separation and a place of coming together. This paradox shapes the borderland region and its people in fascinating and important ways. In this talk, Dr. Warren offers a historical and geographical overview of the formation of the Arizona- Mexico border and its evolution since the 1800s. The program […]
Theodore Roosevelt exhibited a greater influence on Arizona than perhaps any other president. He was the first sitting president to visit Arizona, employed an executive order to preserve the Grand Canyon, established a variety of wildlife refuges and reclamation projects, and enjoyed outdoor recreation in the area. This program will share Roosevelt’s widespread influence in […]
During the night of Christmas Eve in 1944, twenty-five Nazi German prisoners of war escaped from Papago Park POW camp on the outskirts of Phoenix and headed towards Mexico. These men were hardcore Nazis, ex U-boat commanders, and submariners, who had successfully dug a nearly 200-foot underground tunnel that took four months to complete. Many […]
In 1937, a team of CalTech geology professors and rough-and-tumble boatmen set out in three small wooden boats on a six-week journey through the Grand Canyon to study the ancient rocks of the canyon’s Inner Gorge. At the time, fewer than a dozen river parties had successfully run the canyon–often with a loss of boats […]
The Red Planet, Mars, has always held our fascination, more so than any other planet. The very word ‘Mars’ conjures up visions of Martians as well as great voyages of exploration in our imagination. What was once a distant, mysterious, cinnamon colored orb in our night sky is now literally a New World that we […]
The agave plant was used by Native peoples for numerous utilitarian items. Mescal served as a valuable food source still being harvested and prepared to this day by many Indigenous groups. For millennia people have pit roasted the heart of the plant yielding a nutritious food staple rich in calcium and zinc. This talk includes […]
People the world over express Divine Devotion through humbly coming together and creating blessed sounds, blending their energies and hearts to help bridge that sometimes narrow, sometimes great, divide between us, as temporal beings, and the Infinite. One example of this bridge is African American sacred music: Negro Spirituals, and the Gospel tradition. Many have […]