Millions of Americans—including our own Bob Boze Bell—got their college education from “land grant colleges” like the University of Arizona in...
The Land Act That Built Universities
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Jana Bommersbach
The Gospel of Wealth
Andrew Carnegie, 1835 to 1919, gave away over $350 million during his lifetime. One of his passions was free public libraries, and he's credited...
A Writer Who Made a Difference
Helen Hunt Jackson was a young poet who'd grown up in New England the night in 1879 when she went to Fanueil Hall to hear an Omaha Chief and his...
She Wasn’t Always so Loved
Today the Statue of Liberty stands as a cherished American symbol and a beloved lady. But it wasn't always like that. Here was much controversy...
The Best of the Best
Who were the men said to “ride like a Mexican, track like a Comanche, shoot like a Kentuckian, and fight like the devil?” A Texas Ranger, of course....
Pack Your “War Bag”
Cowboys had “war bags,” too It was the sack where he kept all his personal possessions, as meager as they usually were. It contained extra...
Liberty, Not Death
Children soothed their thirst by scraping their fingernails on barrack windows to capture frost and warded off hunger by chewing on leather. After...
The Big Divide
Western emigrants didn't feel they had “crossed the Rockies” until they'd crossed the Continental Divide. To do that, the westward bound wagons had...
Oh, Those Orange Novels
The name Erastus Beadle won't mean much to many until it's clear this is THE Beadle of the Beadle Dime Novels. Erastus was a New York publisher of...
One Decked Out Dude
Crazy Horse was many things—fearless warrior who led a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June of 1876; admired Oglala...
Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot
Auld Lang Syne is a cherished poem by a Scottish poet that is important in the annual holiday of Hogmanay. It's normally celebrated at midnight,...
Poker Alice
“I would rather play poker with five or six 'experts' than eat.” That's what Alice Ivers Tubbs said. She was better know as Poker Alice, the most...