All people tell their stories their own way and recording people’s memories can be extraordinary, an inspiring way to look into the past. This presentation will give people the nitty-gritty skills to do oral history. It will help people envision oral history projects they could do, give sample questions and explain some of the ins […]

The deadliest gunfight in Arizona did not take place on the streets of Tombstone, but rather in a remote canyon of the Galiuro Mountains in Graham County in 1918, decades after the frontier had closed. Much of this shootout remains a mystery: Were the Power boys evading the draft during World War I? Who was […]

Learning English as a second language comes with a lot of baggage. It’s not just “i” before “e” except after “c.” Influences include family, economics, culture, immigration, geography, politics, the law, and education. This presentation focuses on the different ways people learn English. Surprisingly, most people surveyed, learned English by simply being tossed into the […]

What is Día de los Muertos? From where does it originate? And how is it celebrated? Día de los Muertos or Days of the Dead is a significant and highly celebrated holiday in Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwestern United States. To understand Día de los Muertos one has to set aside preconceived notions. To […]

The rise of car travel in the 40s, 50s and 60s meant that thousands of people were traversing the broad expanses of the Southwest looking for new landscapes and adventure. As the cars sped past, restaurants, motels, curio shops and gas stations needed large, bright signs to make an impression. This informative and entertaining visual […]

Inspiring students!  A Cowboy Christmas An American Tale, Van Dyke’s exciting, adventure-filled book, tells the story of a boy and girl not yet sixteen coming of age in Arizona, 1873.  Experiencing a hostile frontier, they persevere in search of each other and discover strengths, skills and values.  Education will be served on the plate of […]

Charles Lindbergh is best known for his famous 1927 flight across the Atlantic Ocean.  But few realize that Lindbergh and his wife, Anne, played a brief but important role in archaeology.  In 1929 they teamed up with noted archaeologist Alfred Kidder to conduct an unprecedented aerial photographic survey of Southwest prehistoric sites and geologic features […]

Join Stevenson as she traces Arizona history through women who recorded pieces of their lives in their needlework.  Beginning with 1860s Mexican women, through 1990s Hopi women, this presentation introduces women who pioneered Arizona through quilts they stitched. Some of the women featured are Atanacia Santa Cruz Hughes, Tucson; Viola Slaughter, Southeastern Arizona; Alice Gillette Haught, […]

Winnie Ruth Judd, Eva Dugan, Dr. Rose Boido, and Eva Wilbur Cruz shared one thing in common. All were incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison in Florence.  Some of their stories made national headlines. Who were they and how did they end up in the Florence prison? How did their crimes and trials impact Arizona? […]

What is Día de los Muertos? From where does it originate? And how is it celebrated? Día de los Muertos or Days of the Dead is a significant and highly celebrated holiday in Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwestern United States. To understand Día de los Muertos one has to set aside preconceived notions. To […]

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

Women of many faiths cared for the bodies and souls of Arizona’s early inhabitants. Meet five of these altruistic women who influenced the history of the territory. Theresa Ferrin’s holistic practices and comprehensive understanding of healing herbs earned her the title “Angel of Tucson.” Florence Yount is recognized as Prescott’s first woman physician. Teresita Urrea […]

Through the vehicle of true crime and spine-chilling Arizona lore, this presentation highlights macabre stories and their historical background, including the tale of Winnie Ruth Judd, Arizona's most infamous murderer, and the tale of the Red Ghost and the release into the wild desert of unknown animals (today, we know them as camels). Shore uses […]

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