Arizona is the only state in the Union that has been documented as having Africanized bees in every single county. The story of Africanized bees in Arizona is very much a story about the Southwest, and its distinct differences from the rest of the United States. The bees show us that we are living and […]
Featuring compelling documentaries based on interviews, this presentation shares stories about prominent African Americans who contributed to the life and culture of Arizona. Such luminaries include the late Dr. Eugene Grigsby, Betty Fairfax, Judge Jean Williams, Rev. Warren Stewart, Councilman Calvin Goode, and Carol Coles Henry. Each individual’s life is contextualized using prominent events that […]
The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes. Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hidehunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.” Grinnell […]
Throughout history, the ability of a people to survive and thrive has been tied to environmental conditions. The skill to predict the climatic change of the seasons was an essential element in the ability to “control” those conditions. Seasonal calendars thus became the foundation of early cultures: hunting and gathering, planting and harvesting, worshiping and […]
Consider the taco, that favorite treat, a staple of Mexican and Mexican American cooking and an old standby on an Arizonan’s plate. The corn in the tortilla comes from Mexico, the cheese from the Sahara, the lettuce from Egypt, the onion from Syria, the tomatoes from South America, the chicken from Indochina, and the beef […]
Charles G. W. French, born 1820 in a small southeastern Massachusetts town, heeded the advice, "Go West, young man." Armed with letters of introduction from Daniel Webster and Benjamin R. Curtis, French arrived in California in 1851. Achieving recognition as a lawyer and legislator in Sacramento, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court […]
A saga of incredible action with gun battles, deadly weather, outlaws, and evasive fortunes, this lively presentation shares the stories of the pioneer men who first rode into the Arizona Territory when the law of the land was a gun. Some found success, some found poverty, and some found an early death. Hear the true-life […]
Goldie Tracy Richmond came to southwestern Arizona in 1927 where she lived in a canvas lean-to. To survive, Goldie mined, ran traplines, and operated Tracy’s Trading Post, living among the Tohono O’odham people for four decades. She was a large woman, and the stories told by the O’odham people of Goldie’s life are legendary. Goldie […]
The Fred Harvey and Santa Fe Railway companies vigorously promoted tourism to the Southwest through Harvey's grand hotels along the Santa Fe line. Winslow’s proximity to natural and cultural sites made it an ideal tourism destination, and so La Posada opened there in 1930. After the hotel closed in 1957, the building served as Santa […]
Women have always been in business of one type or another. Meet five of Arizona’s early female entrepreneurs. Prospector Nellie Cashman established restaurants in towns across the territory. Sarah Bowman, a shrewd businesswoman with a tarnished reputation, operated dining establishments for the soldiers of Fort Yuma. Trading post owner Louisa Wetherill replicated intricate Navajo sand […]
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