Chautauqua Lecture Series

In 1921, Silver Lake, Colorado, received over six feet of snow in a single day. In 2013, the Front Range picked up nearly a year's worth of rain in eight days, causing $2 billion in damage and cutting off Estes Park. Then Boulder County was the side of the Marshall Fire in 2021, where winds […]

Gold rushes are often remembered as spontaneous stampedes driven by luck and greed. In reality, they were carefully orchestrated events. This talk explores how gold rushes in the Rocky Mountain West were made possible through federal policies, transportation networks, military protection and financial systems. Drawing on his research on the Montana gold rush, Kent Curtis […]

There is nothing more American than jazz. As Carlos R.A. Jones observed, “It was impossible for Jazz dance and its technique to escape discrediting. It was born in the middle of Jim Crow America and has never escaped that white-supremacist clutch. As white people realized jazz dance’s massive appeal to society, the pursuit of white […]

Route 66 is turning 100!  Take a musical journey down America's most famous highway with the soundtrack of the open road, including Bobby Troup's classic hit, "Route 66." Through music, visuals and storytelling, explore the rich history, cultural impact and enduring nostalgia of the Mother Road, from neon signs and roadside attractions to the destinations […]

This lecture will explore Lakota dances, specifically the Sun Dance and the Ghost Dance. Dance has been an integral part of Native American life and remains so today. When colonizers came to America, they clashed with Native Americans in many ways. They sought to annihilate Native culture and force assimilation into the white man’s world. […]

During the winter of 1804-1805, the Mandan were the hosts of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition. They were so close to the Corps that Lewis and Clark named their winter encampment after the tribe, Fort Mandan. For many students of the expedition, that is where the Mandan story ends. These people were simply the welcoming […]

Native American policy in the United States is a broad, complex and foundational part of the nation’s history. During the 1870s–1890s, federal policy shifted as the reservation system became firmly established and a push toward forced assimilation intensified. This presentation explores the impact of these policies in the Plains region through the story of Chief […]

Paul Kirk will discuss the personal and professional life of Marion Thede, a pioneering musicologist who collected fiddle tunes in Oklahoma during the 1930s. The program will feature the music and stories of Oklahoma fiddlers whose contributions helped shape American folk music.Kirk has been playing bowed string instruments since 1980 and has taught them privately, […]

Do you enjoy cacti and succulents and appreciate the masterful artwork of Dale Chihuly? You will enjoy both as presented at the Desert Botanic Garden in Phoenix. Bill Hendricks is the former President of Klyn Nurseries and is now an advisor for Petitti Farms. He is a member of many professional horticultural organizations, served as past […]

This session provides a brief overview of different immigration statuses, including U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, refugee/asylee, various visa categories and temporary statuses and undocumented status. It will cover family, employment and humanitarian-based immigration benefits and protections. As the nation approaches the 250th Anniversary of America, the session will situate contemporary immigration law and policy […]

Join award-winning children’s author, Mary Knight, in a conversation about the power of words, the role of empathy in reading and writing and the rewards and challenges of the writing life. Knight will read selections from her award-winning novels — Saving Wonder and What the Seahorse Told Me — and will be available to sign books afterward. […]

Once land belonging to the Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples, the city of Providence, Rhode Island, was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams — a Puritan theologian outcast from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Providence would become known for its religious toleration and independent spirit. After the American Revolution, the city grew from an agricultural and fishing-based […]

Most fourth graders have probably asked, in exasperation at some point, “Why do I have to go to school?” A short and even more exasperating answer might be, “because of New England.” Or more precisely, because of the Puritans and their Yankee descendants. Colonial New England not only enjoyed some of the highest literacy rates […]

The famous words, “all men are created equal” were penned by a Virginian, but New England demonstrated more forms of equality in 1776. Although the American embrace of equality has come from many sources, New England has contributed in particular ways. New England patterns of land ownership, exemplified by the family farm, helped promote more […]