This presentation explains who the mountain men were, how they lived, and why they were in Arizona. Using a colorful presentation, Weber, clad in buckskins, focuses on the life and times of Pauline Weaver, Prescott, Arizona's first white citizen, and other famous mountain men who made their way through this territory. Using photos, maps and […]

Featuring compelling documentaries based on interviews, this presentation shares stories about prominent African Americans who contributed to the life and culture of Arizona.  Such luminaries include the late Dr. Eugene Grigsby, Betty Fairfax, Judge Jean Williams, Rev. Warren Stewart, Councilman Calvin Goode, and Carol Coles Henry.  Each individual’s life is contextualized using prominent events that […]

On February 3, 2015, Dr. Karen G. Schollmeyer and Allen Denoyer (Archaeology Southwest) will discuss what animal bones and stone tools can tell us about hunting, butchering, and eating in the distant past. Archaeology Café is an informal forum where adults can learn more about the Southwest’s deep history and speak directly to experts. We […]

Both love and marriage play major roles in everyone’s life, and many of our modern discussions center on these two concepts. But we are often much too stuck in our own emotions to understand fully love and marriage.  This presentation offers a cultural-historical perspective on the concepts, examining their associated approaches, values, norms, and ideas.  […]

Few symbols have been more durable than the American cowboy. This program will give an overview of this populist figure, whose image was first defined by painters Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Also important to the story are brave cowgirls and the Mexican vaqueros. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show showcased mythic cowboy culture, with […]

The Fred Harvey company operated its exceptional chain of restaurants and hotels along the Santa Fe Railway from 1876 through the 1960s. Among its many innovations was the employment of “Harvey Girl” waitresses: single women who chose to leave their families and adhere to strict lifestyle restrictions for the opportunity to work at respectable jobs. […]

What shouldn’t we say? The limits of free speech Facilitated by: Jeff Downard, NAU Department of Philosophy Hot Topics Café is a program that creates a forum for civil discourse about matters of significance to our communities. Unbiased information sheets present arguments on competing sides of a question, and give legislative histories or other relevant […]

Early traders traveled through Arizona Territory, selling goods from their wagons, but they soon built stores that evolved into trading and social centers where wool, sheep, and NaEarly traders traveled through Arizona Territory, selling goods from their wagons, but they soon built stores that evolved into trading and social centers where wool, sheep, and Native […]

Few symbols have been more durable than the American cowboy. This program will give an overview of this populist figure, whose image was first defined by painters Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Also important to the story are brave cowgirls and the Mexican vaqueros. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show showcased mythic cowboy culture, with […]

Few symbols have been more durable than the American cowboy. This program will give an overview of this populist figure, whose image was first defined by painters Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Also important to the story are brave cowgirls and the Mexican vaqueros. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show showcased mythic cowboy culture, with […]

The original 13 colonies and their influence on our country’s expansion to the Pacific, along with how Arizona’s growth led it to become the 48th state, illustrate the connection between geography, politics, economics, and social forces, all of which played a role in the determination of the state borders west of the Appalachian Mountains.  Thomas […]

Join DeBarbieri for a lively overview of motion picture history in Arizona from 1896 to present day. Discuss the silver screen magic of the West through stories, film clips and stills of the people, places and scenes of Hollywood in Arizona. Journey to significant sites in Arizona’s movie history near and far and go behind the scenes with classic Westerns, musicals, Indie flicks and […]

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 […]

What shouldn't we say? The limits of free speech Facilitated by: Jeff Downard, NAU Department of Philosophy Hot Topics Café is a program that creates a forum for civil discourse about matters of significance to our communities. Unbiased information sheets present arguments on competing sides of a question, and give legislative histories or other relevant […]

Orphan Trains to Arizona is a multimedia presentation that tells the story of the 250,000 orphans and unwanted children who were put on trains in New York between 1854 and 1929 and sent all over the United States to be given away. Through live music, historical fiction, oral history, and informal discussion, participants will learn about […]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this program could fill a seven-volume history of Arizona. From the geological wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest to cutting-edge biotech industries and Native American art galleries, this whirlwind pictorial history tour of Arizona from prehistory to the present shows it all. In addition […]

This presentation is based on the stories of five women from the Casa Grande Valley towns (Eloy, Randolph, Coolidge, Casa Grande, and the Gila Reservation) who, despite their busy and oppressive lives of work, family, poor housing, etc., managed to become politicized, self-educated activists. They rebuilt their lives and created lively communities even after "the […]