Public Presentations
I’ve been giving PowerPoint presentations since 1996 for colleges, the Arizona Historical Society, Road Scholars, Arizona Humanities, senior resort communities, CCRCs (continued care retirement communities), libraries, museums, church groups, clubs, conventions, and even people’s living rooms. My topics have focussed more on popular subjects over the past twenty-six years but I’ve also created special presentations on prehistoric water use and the history of astronomy in Arizona and can design talks to fit your interests and audiences.
Arizona Humanities Topics 2022-23
Arizona Goes to the Movies
Since the silent days when Douglas Fairbanks filmed in Nogales in 1917 to “How the West Was Won” Arizona has been a photogenic favorite for movie producers. Learn about the stars on location and stories of Arizona filming from silents to Cinemascope.
Writers of the Purple Sage
Zane Grey spent his honeymoon at the Grand Canyon and went on to be one of the first and most famous Western writers of all time; Harold Bell Wright came to Tucson with lung problems and became one of the a best seller from 1900 to 1930. University of Arizona writing professor Richard Summers wrote Dark Madonna in 1937 capturing Hispanic culture and folklore, and naturalist Joseph Wood Krutch wrote Desert Year in 1952 a lyrical view of Southwest desert environment, Finally Ed Abbey, renegade environmental novelist, rounds out the list for these “Writer” of the Purple Sage.
Presentation Topics
Get Your Kicks on Arizona Route 66!
The Women of Tombstone: Madams, Reporters, and Philanthropists
“In My Merry Oldsmobile” — Americans Love Cars
Arizona Goes to the Movies – 100 Years of Arizona Filmmaking
The Shadow Catchers: 150 Years of Arizona Photographers
Navajo Code Talkers: For Our Mother Earth
Four Corners Country: Landscapes and Cultures
Writers of the Purple Sage: A History of Western Literature
Native Roads: A Complete Motoring Guide to the Navajo and Hopi Nations
Ancient Southwest – Prehistoric Cultures and Cliff Dwellings
Artists and Photographers of the Grand Canyon
Father Kino and his Arizona Missions, 1687-1711
Gold Rush Impact and the Mexican-American War
History of Mining in Arizona
Lives of Arizonans from Memoirs and Fiction
Once We Rode Like the Wind – Apache History and Culture
Spanish Colonial Arizona: Lancers for the King
Stagecoaches, Steamboats, and Locomotives!
The Captivity of the Oatman Girls
The Coronado Expedition
The Harvey Girls: Women Who Tamed the West
Theater in Arizona Territory
Turquoise: Mining, History, and Folklore
Uncle Sam’s Camels: The Beale Wagon Road Expedition