
July 2022
The Evolution of an Icon–The History of Arizona Highways Magazine with Win Holden
The first issue of Arizona Highways magazine was published in April, 1925. In this presentation, former publisher Win Holden will share the fascinating story of how a brochure produced by the Arizona Highway Department evolved into one of the most respected and revered publications in the world. With annual economic impact of over $65 million, Arizona Highways reaches all 50 states and over 100 countries around the world. But the journey has been anything but uneventful. With a unique publishing…
Find out more »Chiles & Chocolate: Sweet and Spicy Foods in the American West with Chris Glenn and Sandy Sunseri
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 on the social context. Discover how chiles and chocolate became identity markers in gender roles and relationships, essential in rituals and religious customs, popular in…
Find out more »September 2022
Miners, Cowboys and Washerwomen: The Worksongs of Arizona with Jay Craváth
In a narrative and musical portrait of working-class music, Dr. Craváth explores its roots and rhythms in our state. From Hopi basket songs, the Yavapai acorn gathering songs, to the cotton fields of Chandler and the crooked streets of Jerome, songs were companions to the immigrants who explored and built our state. Through performance and discussion, these tales, which reveal so much of the nature and character of a people, are explored. This program is cohosted by Phippen Museum. This…
Find out more »Arizona: A History of the Grand Canyon State with Jim Turner
This brief history starts with Conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s 1540 expedition and covers Catholic missions, mining, Native American conflicts, Mormon immigration, ranching, farming, health seekers, education, tourism, moviemaking, and biographies ranging from Father Eusebio Kino to Sandra Day O’Connor. You can’t cover Arizona history without Wild West legends like Wyatt Earp, stage robbers, and dance hall girls but this presentation focuses more on Arizona’s diverse cultures, unusual characters, and unsung heroes like Hi Jolly, the Greco-Syrian camel driver, The…
Find out more »October 2022
Dia de los Muertos Storytelling with Zarco Guerrero
Dia de Los Muertos is a highly celebrated and significant holiday held throughout Mexico, Latin America and the Southwest. It is a day when homage is paid with prayers, offerings of food and the building of altars to those who have gone before us. Join Zarco and his unique masked characters as they celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with hilarious and moving story telling. Among the characters making appearances are: the poetry spouting “El Vato Poeta,”…
Find out more »Desert Rats, River Runners, and Canyon Crawlers: Four Arizona Explorers with Gregory McNamee
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 Christmas Ives embarked on an arduous expedition up the Colorado River, one of the first Americans to see what he called the Big Canyon. A…
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