In 1929, the first national women’s air race from Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, Ohio passed through Arizona. Stopping in Yuma, Phoenix, and Douglas, the intrepid fliers solidified their determination and sisterhood along these Arizona waypoints. Who were these aviators? What were their planes like in 1929? What challenges did they encounter along the way? […]

Native Americans in the US Southwest developed sophisticated skills in astronomy and predicting the seasons, centuries before non-Indigenous peoples entered the region. In this presentation, archaeologist Allen Dart discusses archaeological and ethnographic evidence of ancient astronomical and calendrical reckoning practices seen in petroglyphs, architecture, and settlement layouts in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, and […]

It is one of the most uplifting – yet often forgotten – stories of Jewish survival during the Holocaust. In the early 1940s, the Dominican Republic was the only sovereign country to accept large numbers of Jewish refugees. About 750 German and Austrian Jews found a safe haven on an abandoned banana plantation in a […]

Arizonans quickly embraced the aviation advances of the early 1900s. Whether for fun, adventure, or science, they made their own planes and soared, sometimes with rough landings. The adventure, the science, the opportunity, and even the unknown drew Arizonans into the skies. And they accomplished much! Take a flight through history with Natalie Stewart-Smith. This […]

The Colorado, the Gila, the Salt, the Verde, the Hassayampa, the Santa Cruz: Arizona’s rivers were lush green ribbons of life flowing through a desert landscape. They became sustaining paths for indigenous traders and immigrants leaving wagon tracks and settlements. The Hohokam built vast canals from the Salt to direct irrigation water for crops. European […]