In 1894 an Easterner named Andrew Douglass explored Arizona Territory in search of an ideal site to establish an astronomical observatory for Bostonian Percival Lowell. Traveling by train and stagecoach, Douglass visited Tombstone, Tucson, Tempe, Prescott and Flagstaff. While making scientific observations at each locale, he experienced a variety of unforeseen episodes. This expedition is […]
In 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, […]
As 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 […]
This presentation will explore the US Army’s experiment with using camel from the Middle East to make it more mobile in the newly acquired Southwest. In order to teach the soldiers about camels, a local from the Middle East, who was called Hi Jolly, was shipped over with the camels. Even though Secretary of War […]
Arizona’s rivers were first, lush green ribbons of life through a desert landscape. They became sustaining paths, first for the indigenous, later for immigrants leaving wagon tracks. On the Salt River, Hohokam built vast canals to direct water for irrigation. The first European citizens of Phoenix used these same trenches. The history, stories and songs […]
The Nazis in Germany committed the worst crimes against humanity in world history. The Holocaust will remain in our collective memory and reminds us constantly of the profound dangers that threaten modern society. Democracy is a fragile construct. This presentation analyzes the causes and conditions for the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and traces […]
Buckey O’Neill was one of Arizona’s legendary pioneers, even author William MacLeod Raine called him “the most many-sided man Arizona has produced”. Before dying in Cuba while serving as one of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, O’Neill made his mark in Arizona as a newspaper editor, sheriff, mayor, and prospector, among other professions. Whether chasing train […]
“The Orphan Trains – Arizona’s Hidden History” will be presented at six libraries: Winslow, Prescott, Douglas, Fountain Hills, Wilcox and Prescott Valley. The program is designed to inform, entertain, and engage audiences of all ages and to tell the story of about this little-known chapter of the largest child migration in American and Arizona history […]
The ancient Hohokam culture of Arizona constructed at least 200 ball courts more than 800 years ago. These oval depressions were likely used to play a ball game that originated in southern Mexico, where the game was played with a rubber ball and had a very important role in reenacting the creation of humans in […]
Violet M. Irving, Liz Warren’s grandmother, spent most of her life in Skull Valley, Arizona, as the postmaster and owner of the general store. Born in 1900 in Walker, Vi was the daughter and granddaughter of miners. Her life spanned the century, and she witnessed statehood, two great wars, the Depression, and Rural Electrification first […]