From the Federal Writers' Project, interviews with pioneer men who first rode into the Arizona Territory when the law of the land was a gun. A saga of incredible action of gun battles, deadly weather, Indian attacks, outlaws, and evasive fortunes. Some found success, some found poverty, and some found an early grave. These are […]

Featuring compelling documentaries based on interviews, this presentation shares stories about prominent African Americans who contributed to the life and culture of Arizona.  Such luminaries include the late Dr. Eugene Grigsby, Betty Fairfax, Judge Jean Williams, Rev. Warren Stewart, Councilman Calvin Goode, and Carol Coles Henry.  Each individual’s life is contextualized using prominent events that […]

Contrary to many opinions, love and marriage have been as much subject to historical change and development as all other human cultural manifestations. This talk addresses the question how marriage and love were handled in the Middle Ages and the age of the Protestant Reformation. We will look at numerous literary and art-historical examples reflecting […]

Using interviews with Sedona Schnebly's children, Lisa Schnebly Heidinger  has put together little-known details about this amazing woman’s life, from being written out of the will for marrying TC Schnebly on her 20th birthday to the fate of the man she didn't marry. Her story includes the journey west and the comic and tragic details […]

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 early radio. Join Larson as he revisits the sounds America listened and danced to for more than three decades. Learn how iconic artists like Glenn […]

The Harlem Renaissance was not only a movement but an enriching and defining period in history that celebrated African Americans.  The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, and was considered to be a rebirth of African American arts. The Harlem Renaissance was a […]

In world religious and spiritual traditions as distant as Central America, the Andes, and the Middle East, the concept of the soul and the axis of its universe, the Tree of Life, provide a unifying thread of thought. This lecture compares and contrasts images of the soul from the great mystical texts of Mayans, pre-Incan […]

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 early radio. Join Larson as he revisits the sounds America listened and danced to for more than three decades. Learn how iconic artists like Glenn […]

Early traders traveled through Arizona Territory, selling goods from their wagons, but they soon built stores that evolved into trading and social centers where wool, sheep, and Native Arts were exchanged for food and necessities. Navajo trading posts are best known, but trading posts existed on every reservation in Arizona. Traders became the intermediaries between […]

In pioneer Arizona, among the best places to experience the performing arts were in the mining towns. Striking it rich meant having disposable income and miners, like the well-heeled of the Gilded Age, wanted to demonstrate their sophistication with culture. From the early popular music of ragtime and minstrelsy during the forming of these communities […]