How did Prescott law enforcement deal (or not deal) with crime in this growing community during the final years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century?

 Presentation begins at 9:30 AM

Opium use was once widespread throughout the West. What was the situation in Prescott?

 Presentation begins at 10:30 AM

Murders in Prescott weren’t always noteworthy enough to merit their own presentations; the Keystone Murders are.

 Presentation begins at 11:30 AM

Based on true events, this groundbreaking silent film was extremely controversial when it was released in 1925, as it dealt with a young woman forced into prostitution struggling to reclaim her life. It became a local sensation when a Prescott woman, reportedly the subject of the film, protested and went to court over the film’s content. Presented by local film historian, Tom Slaback, this is a rare opportunity to view one of the first films to confront controversial social issues. 

 Presentation begins at 1:30 PM

Speakers: Brad Courtney and Drew Desmond                                              

Speaker: Kelly Cordes (Historian, History Teacher)                                              

Why was Prescott settled at its present location?  Who were the key figures who founded the town? Kelly Cordes, a 4th generation member of the Cordes family in Arizona and a native of Prescott, will share information about the early days of Prescott’s history.

Speaker: Lisa Schnebly Heidinger (Historian, Author)                                              

As the great-granddaughter of Sedona Schnebly, Lisa Schnebly Heidinger has spent decades researching her family history.  Original family sources offer personal insight about her great-grandparents who settled Sedona, AZ. 

Speaker: Roger Naylor (Arizona Travel Writer)                                              

The entire story of Arizona can be told through its award-winning system of state parks.  With Roger Naylor as your guide, you will learn the history of our state parks and explore their diversity and treasures.

Speaker: Doug Hocking (Historian, Author)                                              

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Tombstone, Bisbee and Silver City were among the richest towns in the West.  Payrolls travelling by train were often targets for outlaws.  Doug Hocking will tell of robbery attempts that were seldom successful and often remarkable.

Speaker: Tom Collins (Historian, Author)                                              

Territorial Prescott’s promising young attorney, Charles B. Rush, had everything going for him.  His family adored him, and the community admired him.  But, as Tom Collins will explain, illicit passion destroyed Rush’s career and his family.

9:30 a.m. Speaker: Nancy Burgess                                              

Atop a five-story-high pile of granite boulders slightly west of Prescott, something’s been etched into the stone… the inscription reads “Don Maguire 1879.”  For many decades those few who had seen the scribed words asked, “Who was Don Maguire?”  He was an itinerant merchant who wrote original narratives of his adventures — entertaining and colorful contributions to the story of America’s Wild, Wild West.

Nancy Burgess is author of multiple historic preservation books including Around Yavapai Count: Celebrating Arizona’s Centennial; A Photographic Tour of 1916 Prescott, Arizona; and An Illustrated History of Mayer, Arizona.  She is a historic consultant with a focus on nominations to the National Register of Historic Places for communities in central Arizona, including Prescott, Sedona and several rural communities.  For 20 years she was an historic preservation specialist for the City of Prescott and a long-time volunteer and former board member of the Sharlot Hall Museum. 

10:30 a.m. Speaker: Roger Naylor                                              

Starting in 1901, brothers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb explored and photographed the Grand Canyon from rim to river for more than seven decades. Their tale is as epic as their backdrop. The Kolb Brothers were doing more than documenting history; they were making history!  Discover that history in this photographic travelogue and learn their amazing story.

Roger Naylor is has been the freelance travel writer for the Arizona Republic for more than 15 years and writes for he official Arizona Visitor Guide. In 2018 he was inducted into the Arizona Tourism Hall of Fame. His work has appeared in USA Today, Arizona Highways and Country Magazine. 

1:00 p.m. Speaker: Brad Courtney                                              

Legend has it, a baby was left on the bar.  It’s a touching saga that dates back to January 17, 1896, that has been shared for decades along Whiskey Row …a story that has been romanticized and embellished that speaks of a baby who was “won” in a gambling game after being abandoned atop a bar counter of a prominent Prescott saloon. It’s been a tale featured in newspapers, magazines, books and poetry — perhaps one of Arizona’s most famous saloon stories virtually accepted as truth.  Recent research reveals it’s based on the fascinating and true story of Violet “Baby Bell” Hicks, but is there any truth to the romanticized legend?

Bradley G. Courtney is the popular author of Prescott’s Original Whiskey Row and co-author of Murder and Mayhem in Prescott. He’s also co-author of the upcoming True Tales of Prescott with Drew Desmond.  Brad is an independent historian who lives in Prescott, has taught in Phoenix and on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northern Arizona, and was also a riverboat pilot and guide who gave tours down the incomparable canyons of the Colorado River. He holds a masters degree in history from California State University.,

2:00 p.m. Speaker: Jana Bommersbach                                                                           

“She dared do WHAT?” — Nobody knows her name nor the courageous things this pioneer newspaper journalist did. That is a mistake. She wasn’t just over-looked, like so many women in history. No, they erased her. Buried her deep with no gravestone. They wanted to be sure nobody ever knew what she’d done, or why, or how she’d bested some prominent honchos in the mining town of Jerome in the early 1900s.  But the story of Laura Nihell is an exciting, rip-roaring tale.

Jana Bommersbach moved to Arizona in 1972 (from North Dakota) and has been an acclaimed and respected journalist for decades. Her body of work has encompassed nearly every aspect of the profession, and she is an Emmy award winner for her centennial special, Outrageous Arizona, as well as four writing awards from the Arizona Press Club.  She was inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame as an “Outstanding Media Leader.” She has authored nine books and has been with True West Magazine since 2002.