Entrepreneurs offering assorted “get rich quick” schemes and “cure-alls” have visited Arizona since the early days. Benefitting from tales of abundant resources in the territory, limited law enforcement and communication, a scoundrel could create enticing promises of wealth and health without much external oversight. Newspapers often fanned the hysteria only to later denounce and expose […]

The stories of trading posts in the Southwest are a unique snapshot of life almost one hundred years ago. In the early 1900’s, trading posts in the Four corners flourished. There were over one hundred trading posts on the plateau, but today only five remain. Why did they vanish? The challenges and unexpected gifts of […]

There’s nothing like standing under a dark, star-spangled night sky to quiet the mind and reduce stress, share an experience of awe with family and friends, and to inspire creative thoughts. Yet such dark skies are a disappearing resource, with only 20% of the world living in a place where the center of our Milky […]

A range of factors attracted the earliest Anglo women artists to Arizona. Some sought sanctuary and solitude in the state’s geologically impressive landscapes, while others sought solace in the vast, spirit-lifting vistas they encountered at every turn. Others found that encounters with Native Americans caused them to question long-held colonialist stereotypes of “the other.” Still […]

Between 1865 and 1870, Black people from slave states emigrated to Tucson. As skilled cooks, domestics, barbers, scouts, surveyors, and builders, they came in search of place to start life as free people. Historians described this first wave of Black pioneers as passive Tucsonans disinterested in the politics and governance of the city. Yet, these […]