Desert Rats, River Runners, and Canyon Crawlers: Four Arizona Explorers with Gregory McNamee

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

Francisco Garcés, a Franciscan friar, arrived in what is now Arizona in 1768. Assigned to the church at San Xavier del Bac south of present-day Tucson, he traveled widely throughout Arizona and California, charting overland routes that later travelers would follow. Near where Garcés would meet his death in 1781, an American soldier named Joseph […]

FREE

Chiles & Chocolate: Sweet and Spicy Foods in the American West with Chris Glenn and Sandy Sunseri

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

Come 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 of the world. Food is a portal into culture and can convey a range of cultural meaning including occasion, social status, ethnicity, and wealth depending […]

FREE

Following the Bugle: Military Wives on the Arizona Frontier with Jan Cleere

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

When the US Army ordered troops into Arizona Territory in the 19th century to protect and defend newly established settlements, military men often brought their wives and families. Most of the women were from refined, eastern-bred families with little knowledge of the territory. Their letters, diaries, and journals from their years on army posts reveal […]

FREE

Set in Stone but Not in Meaning: Southwestern Rock Art with Allen Dart

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

Ancient American Indian petroglyphs (symbols carved or pecked on rocks) and pictographs (rock paintings) are claimed by some to be forms of writing for which meanings are known. But are such claims supported by archaeology or by Native Americans? Archaeologist Allen Dart illustrates how petroglyph and pictograph styles changed through time and over different parts […]

FREE

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

Fountain Hills Community Center 13001 N La Montana Dr, Fountain Hills, 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 […]

FREE

Writers of the Purple Sage with Jim Turner

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

This presentation covers five Arizona novelists: Zane Grey spent his honeymoon at the Grand Canyon and went on to be one of the first and most famous Western writers of all time; Harold Bell Wright came to Tucson with lung problems and became a bestseller from 1900 to 1930. University of Arizona writing professor Richard […]

FREE

The Selling of the Grand Canyon: The Santa Fe, Harvey Company and the El Tovar

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

This presentation discusses the significance of the American Southwest in the early 20th century when national attention shifted to the canyons and deserts of the American Southwest. Although American scientists, artists, writers, fur traders, and explorers had been visiting the Southwest since the early 19th century, the arrival of the railroads eased access which in […]

FREE

100 Years Grand – The Story of Arizona Highways Magazine with Win Holden

Fountin Hills Community Center 13001 N La Montana Dr, Fountain Hills, AZ, United States

  April 2025 will mark Arizona Highways magazine’s 100th birthday. How did a brochure produced by the Arizona Highway Department become one of the most revered travel publications in the world? How has Arizona Highways remained relevant for a century while other national magazines have failed? Former Arizona Highways Publisher, Win Holden, will share the […]

Talking Code with a Secret Weapon: Navajo Code Talkers Speak with Laura Tohe

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

During WWII a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines unaware that they would develop a secret code against the Japanese military. This select group of Code Talkers devised a Navajo language code that was accurate, quick, never broken, and saved many American lives. Excerpts from live interviews with the Code Talkers tell […]

FREE

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

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