Central Arizona

American Indians are the only ethnic group in the United States who, for generations, were subjected to forced education by the federal government.  In the early years, Indian children were hunted down and taken by force to boarding schools, residing there for three or more years.  These children were stripped of their Native identities, not […]

Place names are like fossil poetry: they afford a kind of folk history, a snapshot in time that enables us to read them and reconstruct how people have assigned names to the places to which they come. The U.S. has over 3.5 million place names, and there is no part of the world where nomenclature […]

Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. was a multi-dimensional man all too often remembered solely for his “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the March on Washington in 1963. Yet, there was another Dr. King that emerged after the Selma to Montgomery march and the subsequent Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was this King […]

Throughout history, the ability of a people to survive has been tied to environmental conditions.  The skill to predict the seasons was an essential element in the ability to “control” those conditions. Seasonal calendars became the foundation of early cultures for hunting and gathering, planting and harvesting, worshiping and celebrating. The goal of cultural astronomy […]

With the exception of the most ardent collectors and the older generations, the influence and legacy of the big bands is largely forgotten despite their overwhelming popularity and significant role in early radio.  Join Larson as he revisits the sounds that America listened and danced to for more than three decades.  Learn how iconic artists […]

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 […]