Our Civil War: Reflections at the Sesquicentennial

Burton Barr Central Library 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ, United States

Between 2011 and 2015 Americans will commemorate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. Different people have looked at this event in different ways at different times, reminding us that history is in part a conversation between past and present, and that in deciding how we approach this event we say something about ourselves. How […]

Free

Exploring the Depths: A 3D 1940 Hike into the Grand Canyon

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

In 1940, photographer Clyde A. McCoy hiked down the South Kaibab trail at Grand Canyon National Park making color, stereo photographs as part of a nationwide project. Two years later he was murdered in a Detroit robbery. In 1996, Dr. Amundson purchased McCoy’s photograph collection and has been researching McCoy’s story ever since. This presentation […]

Free

Signs of the Times: The Golden Age of Neon in Arizona

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

The rise of car travel in the 40s, 50s and 60s meant that thousands of people were traversing the broad expanses of the Southwest looking for new landscapes and adventure. As the cars sped past, restaurants, motels, curio shops and gas stations needed large, bright signs to make an impression. This informative and entertaining visual […]

Free

Arizona’s Movie and Television History: Silent Films, Westerns, and Much, Much More!

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

Join DeBarbieri for a lively overview of motion picture history in Arizona from 1896 to present day. Discuss the silver screen magic of the West through stories, film clips and stills of the people, places and scenes of Hollywood in Arizona. Journey to significant sites in Arizona’s movie history near and far and go behind the scenes with classic Westerns, musicals, Indie flicks and […]

Free

Pauline Weaver and the Mountain Men of Arizona

Desert Caballeros Western Museum 21 N. Frontier Street, Wickenburg, AZ, United States

This presentation explains who the mountain men were, how they lived, and why they were in Arizona. Using a colorful presentation, Weber, clad in buckskins, focuses on the life and times of Pauline Weaver, Prescott, Arizona's first white citizen, and other famous mountain men who made their way through this territory. Using photos, maps and […]

Free
Recurring

At Home: Veterans Read and Share Stories (Book Group)

Burton Barr Central Library - Meeting Room C 1221 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ, United States

Female and Male veterans are welcome to join this FREE five-session book group with dinner included. The group will read short stories and essays from classic and contemporary authors and talk about their own stories with fellow veterans. Facilitators: Dan Shilling, Ph.D. Arizona State University and Vietnam Veteran Dr. Gina Lang, Transpersonal & Integrative Psychologist […]

Free

Set in Stone but Not in Meaning: Southwestern Indian Rock Art

Verde Valley Archaeology Center 460 W Finnie Flat Road, Camp Verde, AZ, United States

Ancient Indian petroglyphs (symbols carved or pecked on rocks) and pictographs (rock paintings) are claimed by some to be forms of writing for which meanings are known. But are such claims supported by archaeology or by Native Americans?  Dart illustrates how petroglyph and pictograph styles changed through time and over different regions of the American […]

Free

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

Robson Branch Library, Lecky Room 9330 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, 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 Vulture Gold Mine

Litchfield Park Branch Library 101 W. Wigwam Boulevard, Litchfield Park, AZ, United States

Discovered in 1863 by Henry Wickenburg, the Vulture Gold Mine was the first big gold mine in Arizona.  The mine and its colorful cast of characters, along with the town of Wickenburg, were instrumental in stimulating considerable growth and development in Central Arizona. This presentation will share the multi-layered story of the gold mine, thus […]

Free

Deceptions, Lies and Alibis

Esmond Station K-8 9400 S. Atterbury Wash Way, Vail, AZ, United States

A killer camel, a tornado-riding con man, a dead dragon, and a naked horse thief are some of the characters in the quirky stories from Southwest history that Peach loves to share in his original cowboy poetry.  Laugh at and learn from these very tall and mostly true tales, like how Arizona forfeited a seaport […]

Free

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