~~ History All Around Us ~~

Free Guest Speaker Series

10:00 AM

 St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church

600 S. La Cañada Drive 

Donations are welcome and encouraged to help support SCVHS programs.

September ~ "Adobe Structures in Arizona"

• Alex LaPierre

• Tuesday, 9 September 2025

• Join us for an engaging look at Arizona’s adobe architecture and the unique Sonoran Row House. This presentation by Borderlandia director Alex La Pierre introduces adobe's fascinating history and its role in shaping Arizona's unique look and feel. We'll explore how these earthen brick houses were built to thrive in the arid desert, connecting today's rare examples of existing row architecture with the Indigenous and Hispanic building roots of the borderlands region. Whether you're curious about adobe, historic preservation or just love learning about the Southwest, this presentation offers something for everyone. 

October ~ "Arizona's Prisoner of War Camps"

• Steve Hoza

• Tuesday, 14 October 2025

• Please come join us for a PowerPoint presentation by historian Steve Hoza on the history of German prisoner of war camps in Arizona during World War Two. Mr. Hoza has interviewed hundreds of former prisoners, guards, camp personnel and Arizona residents that worked with the POWs. There will be artifacts from the camps to see as well. A Phoenix native, Mr. Hoza has written extensively on the history of World War Two in Arizona and has appeared in numerous television documentaries.

    November ~ "Buffalo Soldiers in Bonita Canyon"

• Joyner-Green Valley Library, 601 N. La Cañada Drive

• Sharon A. Kennedy

• Thursday,  13 November 2025

• This is the story of two troops of the Tenth Cavalry, an all-black regiment, that arrived in Bonita Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains in 1885 to defend the use of the waterhole by Geronimo and his people, should they return from the mountains in Mexico.  During that time, the soldiers built a ten-foot stone monument honoring assassinated President James A. Garfield.

  January ~ "Local Chinese Merchants in Arizona"

• Dr. Howard J. Eng & Paul E. Tang

• Tuesday,  13 January 2026

• 2:00 PM

 February ~ "Arizona's World War Two Airfields"

• Steve Hoza

• Tuesday, 10 February 2026

 March ~ "WWII Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs)"

• Jerry G. Bryant

• Tuesday, 10 March 2026

April ~ "Going Nuts:  The Santa Cruz Valley's Transition from Cotton to Pecans"

• Oscar Gomez

• Tuesday, 14 April 2026