From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers
During WWII a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines without knowing that they would be called on to develop a secret code against the Japanese military. This […]
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Barbed Wire, Windmills and Railroads – The Technology that Really Won the West.
Mountain View Club House 38759 South Mountainview Boulevard, Tucson, AZ, United StatesIn Arizona and throughout the West, three innovations helped make farming and living possible: Windmills brought groundwater to the surface, barbed wire sectioned the vast landscape into parcels, and railroads moved men, women, families and materials from back east. In the old West, there were over 8 million windmills, a man caught cutting down a […]
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“Hyenas in Petticoats”–How Women Struggled Against Every Dirty Trick in the Books to Win the Vote!
Church of the Nazarene 55 Rojo Dr, SedonaAs we celebrate the 100th birthday of the 19th Amendment in 2020, it’s time to look back at the enormous effort it took for women to be granted full citizenship and the vote. History has downplayed suffrage, as if it were just a footnote in American history, when in fact, it was the nation’s largest […]
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For the Love of Turquoise
Turquoise has a long standing tradition amongst Native cultures of the Southwest, holding special significance and profound meanings to specific individual tribes. Even before the more contemporary tradition of combining silver with turquoise, cultures throughout the southwest used turquoise in necklaces, earrings, mosaics, fetishes, medicine pouches, and made bracelets of basketry stems lacquered with piñon […]
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Chiles & Chocolate: Sweet and Spicy Foods in the American West
ExtensionCome have a taste of the rich and savory history of these food favorites, explore how early peoples used them, and how they have evolved and spread to all corners […]
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Tucson’s Black Community and School Segregation
In 1909 the Territory of Arizona amended its compulsory school attendance bill to give cities and counties the ability to segregate their schools. Inspired by the change in the law, the Tucson school board conducted a rapid search of available buildings, settling on an abandoned mortuary. Shocked by this unsettling turn of events, Tucson’s Black […]
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Honky Tonks, Brothels and Mining Camps: Entertainment in Old Arizona
Prescott Public Library 215 E. Goodwin St., Prescott, AZ, United StatesIn pioneer Arizona, among the best places to experience the performing arts were in the mining towns. Striking it rich meant having disposable income, and miners, like the well-heeled of the Gilded Age, wanted to demonstrate their sophistication with culture. From the early popular music of ragtime and minstrelsy during the forming of these communities, […]
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The Ballad of Arizona
Originally conceived to celebrate Arizona’s Centennial in 2012, “The Ballad of Arizona” has been updated to provide a more complete survey of important, but often little-known, chapters of Arizona’s unique history. A blend of music, video, and lecture, “The Ballad of Arizona” is similar to “A Prairie Home Companion” but with an Arizona twist. The […]
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Arizona’s Great Escape
Christine CoeDuring the night of Christmas Eve in 1944, twenty-five Nazi German prisoners of war escaped from Papago Park POW camp on the outskirts of Phoenix and headed towards Mexico. These men were hardcore Nazis, ex U-boat commanders, and submariners, who had successfully dug a nearly 200-foot underground tunnel that took four months to complete. Many […]
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Arizona: a History of Snake Oil Salesmen, Scams, and Hoaxes
Screenshot-2024-09-30-122038Since the earliest days, Arizonans have been visited by entrepreneurs offering all kinds of get rich quick schemes. Benefitting from tales of abundant resources in the territory, limited law enforcement and communication, a scoundrel could create enticing promise of riches and success without much external oversight. Newspapers often fanned the hysteria only to later denounce […]