Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars with Gregory McNamee

Mohave Community College - Bullhead City Hargrove Library 3400 HWY 95 - 700 Building, Bullhead City, AZ, United States

Their names resound in Arizona history and pepper the of the state map, but few people know well the tangled history that surrounds the so-called “Apache Wars”, when fully half of the active U.S. Army descended on the territory to combat a relative handful of Indigenous warriors. Ironically, the Apache peoples of the Southwest had […]

Seeing the Desert with Gregory McNamee

Mohave County Library District - Lake Havasu City Branch Community Rooms A/B 1770 McCulloch Blvd, Lake Havasu City, AZ, United States

Most Arizonans are not originally from Arizona, and most come from places that are far greener and milder of climate than our desert. For many of us, it takes a shift of eye and of attitude to appreciate this hot, dry place—but once it gets into one’s soul, there’s nowhere like it. This talk explains […]

FREE

Beyond the Kitsch: The Pervasive Spirit of Our Indigenous Creative Community with Nanibaa Beck

Foothills Library 19055 N 57th Ave, Glendale, AZ, United States

Throughout the Southwest, tourists and locals encounter a range of Indigenous art, from manufactured and imported cultural appropriations to fine art in galleries and museums. The state’s creative Indigenous communities are sometimes lost in what is popularly featured as Native American Art. In this presentation, Diné jeweler Nanibaa Beck will highlight contemporary Native American Art, […]

Seeing the Desert with Gregory McNamee

Maricopa County Library - Ed Robson Branch 9330 East Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, United States

Most Arizonans are not originally from Arizona, and most come from places that are far greener and milder of climate than our desert. For many of us, it takes a shift of eye and of attitude to appreciate this hot, dry place—but once it gets into one’s soul, there’s nowhere like it. This talk explains […]

Arizona Snake Oil Salesmen, Scams, and Hoaxes with Christine Reid

Buckeye Valley Museum - 116 E. MC85, Buckeye, AZ 85326 116 East MC85, Buckeye

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 […]

Rivers of Dreams: Songs and Stories of Arizona’s Waterways with Jay Cravath

Maricopa County Library - El Mirage Branch 13513 N El Mirage Rd, El Mirage, United States

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 […]

Beyond the Kitsch: The Pervasive Spirit of Our Indigenous Creative Community with Nanibaa Beck

Yuma Main Library - Meeting Room A 2951 S 21st Dr, Yuma, AZ, United States

Throughout the Southwest, tourists and locals encounter a range of Indigenous art, from manufactured and imported cultural appropriations to fine art in galleries and museums. The state’s creative Indigenous communities are sometimes lost in what is popularly featured as Native American Art. In this presentation, Diné jeweler Nanibaa Beck will highlight contemporary Native American Art, […]

Arizona Water Use from Prehistory to the Present with Jim Turner

Chandler Gilbert Community College - PAC Auditorium 2626 E Pecos Road, Chandler, Arizona

This presentation covers humankind’s water use and food supply interactions with Arizona’s ecology from Clovis culture hunter-gatherers to prehistoric irrigation canals, contemporary Hopi and Tohono O’odham dry farming, and present-day American farmers. We will examine how overhunting and climate change affected the wooly mammoth populations and the agriculture experiments that followed. From early attempts to […]

Arizona Snake Oil Salesmen, Scams, and Hoaxes with Christine Reid

Fountain Hills Activity Center 13001 N. La Montana Dr.,, Fountain Hills, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

Growing in the Desert: The History and Culture of the Tohono O’odham with Jacelle Ramon-Saubera

Viney Jones Library and Community Center 778 N Main Street, Florence, AZ, United States

Many Arizonans call the Sonoran Desert and its striking landscapes home. Long before our urban centers and city lights lit up the dark desert skies, the Tohono O’odham were cultivating and shaping the land with abundant agriculture—from squash and beans to corn and cotton. For generations they passed down their rich knowledge and culture grown […]

Fill out the info below to sign up for our E-Newsletter.