Salt has been a valuable trade item throughout human history. Native American salt procurement in the Southwest involved dangerous journeys across sacred landscapes associated with a deity called Salt Woman. This presentation describes the history of a famous salt mine in Camp Verde, Arizona, where prehistoric Sinagua tools used for mining salt were discovered in […]

Once your family arrived in the west often there was not a doctor within miles. The medical care of the family landed in the hands of the family. Luckily, it was soon learned that the plants held many secrets for someone who was ill. Chew a little willow bark for a headache, pine needles are […]

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 […]

As the mode of transportation changed from wagons to trains to the affordable automobile and roads were built across the country, families began a process of “leisure travel” that the automobile could provide. The “new tourist” was no longer restricted by a train’s timetable or its set route. The wide open spaces and the off-the-beaten […]

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 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 hidehunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.” Grinnell […]

Mike Burns lived a long life in two worlds. Born in about 1862 into the Kwevkepaya (Yavapai) people, he was taken prisoner by U.S. soldiers after his family was massacred at a place called Skeleton Cave. He lived for years as something between a captive and a servant until joining the Indian Scouts, riding against […]

Winnie Ruth Judd, Eva Dugan, Dr. Rose Boido, and Eva Wilbur Cruz all shared one thing in common. They were all incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison in Florence.  These women were players in both the sensational stories that made national headlines and local stories that made Arizona history. Who were these women and how […]