All My Relations: Indigenous Thinking in Seven Generations with Rowdy Duncan

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Who do you consider to be people that you are related to? Who is and is not part of your community? Is there a way to widen our perspective of who is part of our community and invested in our success. This workshop will introduce the idea of thinking in seven generations and examine the […]

FREE

China Mary: History and Legend

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

A 1960 episode of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, the first Western television series, immortalized China Mary as a strong, powerful and ruthless Asian female figure in American popular imagination. The legend of her as an infamous Dragon Lady who ruled Tombstone’s Chinatown with an iron fist cannot be substantiated by historical research. […]

The Gila: River of History

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Six hundred miles long from its source in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River above Yuma, the Gila has been an important avenue for the movement of birds, animals, plants, and peoples across the desert for millennia. Many cultures have sprung up on its banks, and millions of […]

From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

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 select group of Code Talkers devised a Navajo language code that was accurate, quick, never broken, and saved many American lives. This talk profiles 4 […]

For the Love of Turquoise

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

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 […]

Aviators and the Archaeologists: The Lindberghs’ 1929 Aerial Survey of the Southwest

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Famous pilot Charles Lindbergh (the “Lone Eagle”) is best known for his pioneering 1927 flight across the Atlantic Ocean, but few people know that Lindbergh, and his wife Anne, also played an important role in southwestern archaeology. Come see some of their amazing aerial photographs, and learn how Charles and Anne helped share Chaco Canyon, […]

Arizona Goes to the Moon (Apache Junction)

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Arizona played a key role in preparing to send humans to the moon in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The Apollo astronauts themselves traveled to the Grand Canyon and volcanic fields around the state to learn geology and practice their lunar excursions. Meanwhile, U.S. Geological Survey engineers worked with NASA staff members to develop and test […]

Free

FRANK Talk – Borders, Walls, and Immigration – Apache Junction

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Scott Warren, Freelance Geographer Immigration is one of the most divisive issues facing our country and our state. Who comes in and out of the U.S., and how? Do current immigration laws effectively promote national security and economic prosperity, without compromising human and civil rights? In Arizona border security and immigration policies are more than […]

Free

Cowpokes, Crooks, and Cactus: Arizona in the Movies (Apache Junction)

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

Tyrone Power, Andy Devine,  Katy Jurado, Steve McQueen and, of course, John Wayne. From the earliest days of film, Arizona has been a setting and subject for hundreds of films. Some, like Junior Bonner and Red River, are considered classics, others, such as Billy Jack and Evolution, surely less so. Some may even be classics […]

Free

Specters of the Past: Arizona’s Ghost Towns – Apache Junction

Apache Junction Library 1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, AZ, United States

The promise of unimagined riches is what brought many of the earliest colonizers to the Arizona Territory. Following the trail to the discovery of the mother lode, they built, then dismantled and finally abandoned communities when mines played out – leaving behind tantalizing clues of difficult hardships. Some towns survived like Bisbee, Jerome, Tombstone and […]

Free

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