Tom Jeffords grew up in Ashtabula, OH, without much education and was promoted to lake captain in his early twenties. The lure of making his fortune called Tom west to the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, the San Juan Rush and to the Colorado River. He scouted and was dispatch rider for the Army during the […]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this program could fill a seven-volume history of Arizona. From the geological wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest to cutting-edge biotech industries and Native American art galleries, this whirlwind pictorial history tour of Arizona from prehistory to the present shows it all. In addition […]

Tom Jeffords grew up in Ashtabula, OH, without much education and was promoted to lake captain in his early twenties. The lure of making his fortune called Tom west to the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, the San Juan Rush and to the Colorado River. He scouted and was dispatch rider for the Army during the […]

This lecture will focus on the rise of the British pop and rock acts that invaded our shores in the 60’s. From pop groups (The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5, Kinks) to the psychedelic and progressive bands (The Who, Pink Floyd, Cream), we will explore highlights from landmark recordings that clearly defined this British pop […]

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1942 WWII Executive Order 9066 forced the removal of nearly 125,000 Japanese-American citizens from the west coast, incarcerating them in ten remote internment camps in seven states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Government photographers Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, and Ansel Adams documented the internment, and artists Toyo Miyatake, […]

Lai Ngan was smuggled into America at a tender age in the 1870s and sold into bondage.  While still a teenage, she was married off to a Chinese man who was 35 years her senior. She fulfilled  her duties as a loving mother to her children and a supportive wife. She followed her husband on […]

Anyone who has ever stared down an angry bull coming full throttle across an arena will understand why rodeo photographer Louise Serpa often uttered the adage, “Never Don’t Pay Attention.” Born into New York society, Louise ended up out west with her nose buried in the dirt & her eye glued to a camera, becoming […]

With the exception of the most ardent collectors and older generation, the influence and legacy of the big bands is largely forgotten despite their overwhelming popularity and significant role in early radio. Join Larson as he revisits the sounds America listened and danced to for more than three decades. Learn how iconic artists like Glenn […]

With the exception of the most ardent collectors and older generation, the influence and legacy of the big bands is largely forgotten despite their overwhelming popularity and significant role in early radio. Join Larson as he revisits the sounds America listened and danced to for more than three decades. Learn how iconic artists like Glenn […]

Don Chun Wo (1873-1945) was a prominent figure in the Chinese community of Tucson and later Casa Grande in the early decades of the 20th century. He enjoyed high social standing among the Chinese due to his success in running grocery store business, as well as in maintaining a viable family life. The latter was […]

Few symbols have been more durable than the American cowboy. This program will give an overview of this populist figure, whose image was first defined by painters Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Also important to the story are brave cowgirls and the Mexican vaqueros. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show showcased mythic cowboy culture, with […]

Race has been much contested in U.S. history. Yet it has never been a single thing. Nor has it always been the same thing. Race has been part of a changing national identity. More personally, race has been part of variable individual identity. Who was white, who was Indian, who was black, for example, has […]

The rise of car travel in the 40s, 50s and 60s meant that thousands of people were traversing the broad expanses of the Southwest looking for new landscapes and adventure. As the cars sped past, restaurants, motels, curio shops and gas stations needed large, bright signs to make an impression. This informative and entertaining visual […]

Separating fact from fiction is no easy task when it comes to flamboyant stage coach robber Pearl Hart. A mountain of conflicting stories abound, thanks in no small part, to Pearl herself. So enamored of the Wild West, she embellished her own tale to accommodate the interest of newspapers and public fascination. This presentation will […]

For tribal groups in Arizona, understanding the connections between physical, social, mental and spiritual identity of the people prior to birth through 102 years old is a way of life. Tribes in Arizona often illustrate their balance between patriarch and matriarch societies through symbolism. Illustrating with the Man in the maze and the Navajo basket […]

Using interviews with Sedona Schnebly’s children, Lisa Schnebly Heidinger  has put together little-known details about this amazing woman’s life, from being written out of the will for marrying TC Schnebly on her 20th birthday to the fate of the man she didn’t marry. Her story includes the journey west and the comic and tragic details […]

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 […]

U.S. Route 66, known as the “Mother Road,” was built in 1926. It ran from Chicago to L. A. During the depression of the 1930s, it became the major path by which people migrated west, seeking work, warm weather and new opportunities. Shore shares the history of Route 66 in Arizona, including the impact it […]

This PowerPoint program touches on the lives of 5 Arizona women who experienced arduous ordeals & hardships during the territory’s early days. Apache warrior Lozen fought desperately to hold onto land once freely roamed by her people. Larcena Pennington was forced to crawl down a mountain to escape certain death. Mary Aguirre often journeyed with […]

The American Southwest is world-renown for its colorful and spectacular landscapes like Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley, the Superstition Mountains, and the Sonoran Desert. But how did these wonders come to exist and what can ordinary rocks tell us about their ancient origins? You’ll be amazed to learn that the Southwest was once the site […]

In 1904 the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held in St Louis. Attending that fair were over 3,000 indigenous men, women and children who were engaged to show middle class American citizens how “the other half of the world lived.”  Included in this group were a group of Pima and Maricopa kindergarten students from the Sacaton […]

Have you ever believed in a street? That’s right, a real belief in what a street stands for in the midst of a bustling city. Many recall the heyday of Van Buren Street, linking Arizona, California and New Mexico, the only highway known in the early 1900’s. Neon lights, bright, colorful lodges, hotels and motels, […]

In spite of being one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of the World,” humans have not always seen the Grand Canyon in a positive light. First seen by Europeans in the year 1540, the canyon was not comprehended easily. Throughout the entire exploratory era, lasting nearly 320 years, conquistadores, explorers, trappers and miners viewed the […]