Southern Arizona

All people tell their stories their own way and recording people’s memories can be extraordinary, an inspiring way to look into the past. This presentation will give people the nitty-gritty skills to do oral history. It will help people envision oral history projects they could do, give sample questions and explain some of the ins […]

The deadliest gunfight in Arizona did not take place on the streets of Tombstone, but rather in a remote canyon of the Galiuro Mountains in Graham County in 1918, decades after the frontier had closed. Much of this shootout remains a mystery: Were the Power boys evading the draft during World War I? Who was […]

Learning English as a second language comes with a lot of baggage. It’s not just “i” before “e” except after “c.” Influences include family, economics, culture, immigration, geography, politics, the law, and education. This presentation focuses on the different ways people learn English. Surprisingly, most people surveyed, learned English by simply being tossed into the […]

What is Día de los Muertos? From where does it originate? And how is it celebrated? Día de los Muertos or Days of the Dead is a significant and highly celebrated holiday in Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwestern United States. To understand Día de los Muertos one has to set aside preconceived notions. To […]

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 […]

Inspiring students!  A Cowboy Christmas An American Tale, Van Dyke’s exciting, adventure-filled book, tells the story of a boy and girl not yet sixteen coming of age in Arizona, 1873.  Experiencing a hostile frontier, they persevere in search of each other and discover strengths, skills and values.  Education will be served on the plate of […]

Charles Lindbergh is best known for his famous 1927 flight across the Atlantic Ocean.  But few realize that Lindbergh and his wife, Anne, played a brief but important role in archaeology.  In 1929 they teamed up with noted archaeologist Alfred Kidder to conduct an unprecedented aerial photographic survey of Southwest prehistoric sites and geologic features […]