HISTORY LIVE! Durango will launch the seventh annual, monthlong series of free events on Tuesday with the introduction of a book club at the Durango Public Library. Four popular Chautauqua-style presentations will follow at two libraries, Fort Lewis College and the Powerhouse Science Center. With 23 lectures, exhibits and a cooking workshop, plus a bonus event on Oct. 1 that had to be included, History LIVE! once again brings a variety of programs to the Four Corners.
If you go
WHAT: History Live! Durango, a series of free events throughout September celebrating the humanities in Southwest Colorado.
WHO: Various presenters, actors, teachers, scientists and authors.
WHERE: Four Corners libraries, schools and museums.
WHEN: Sept. 2-30, plus one.
TICKETS: Free.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.swcohumanities.org. Or contact Darcy Poletti, darcy.poletti@durangoco.gov or 375.3384.
The Southwest Colorado Humanities Roundtable is made up of 15 regional organizations that works year-round to offer free events every September.
A brochure details topics, times and locations along with a more thorough website at swcohumanities.org. You’ll find well-known Chautauqua scholar-actors Becky Stone and Brian Fox Ellis portraying abolitionist Harriet Tubman and Lincoln’s law partner Billy Herndon.
Over the last few years, Shelley Walchak, former director of the Pine River Library and Pine River Arts, has headed up the roundtable coalition with the able assistance of Darcy Poletti, Adult Services librarian at the Durango Public Library. Lisa Marie Jacobs, Oh So Good Digital, created the website and printed materials. Walchak credits original board members of Colorado Humanities, Florence (Foxie) Mason and Richard Ballantine, for their enthusiasm and perseverance.
“For years Richard and Foxie worked to create a regional model of community cooperation to advance the humanities,” Walchak said. “The goal was to pool resources and promote events for one month every year. The result is the Southwest Colorado Humanities Roundtable and all of our September events.”
For additional details, check the website, brochure, newspaper inserts and regular radio announcements.
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 6-7:30 p.m.: History Live Book Club: “Sins of the Shovel,” by Rachel Morgan. Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 6-7 p.m.: Chautauqua Speaker Becky Stone will give a presentation and answer questions as famed abolitionist and Underground Railroad operator Harriet Tubman. Ignacio Community Library, 470 Goddard Ave, Ignacio.
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 7-8 p.m.: Chautauqua presentation: Billy Herndon with Brian Fox Ellis. 130 Noble Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Thursday, Sept. 4, luncheon at 11:30 a.m.; presentation, noon-1 p.m.: Chautauqua presentation: Austin Gollaher with Brian Fox Ellis. Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Drive, Bayfield.
Thursday, Sept. 4, 7-8 p.m.: Chautauqua presentation: Harriet Tubman with Becky Stone. 130 Noble Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Saturday Sept. 6, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.: Makerspace Heritage Arts Fair. Animas Museum, 3065 West Second Ave.
Monday, Sept. 8, 6-7:30 p.m.: Latino Colorado: The Struggle for Equality in the Centennial State, with Ernesto Sagás. Presented by Maria’s Literary Foundation at Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 6-7:30 p.m.: Reclaiming Reclamation: Public Power, Climate Change, and Glen Canyon’s Resurrection, journalist Zak Padmore. Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Wednesday, Sept. 10, 7-8:30 p.m.: Did Ancestral Puebloan People Raise White Woolly Dogs for Their Hair? The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society at Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Thursday, Sept. 11, 7-8:30 p.m.: John Hawkins and the Birth of the Triangular Slave Trade by Peter Tregillus. 130 Noble Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Friday, Sept. 12, 6-7 p.m.: History of the San Juan Cutthroat by Jim White. Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 1 p.m.: Exhibit Opening: Ute Knowledge. Animas Museum, 3065 West Second Ave.
Monday, Sept. 15, 6-7 p.m.: 10th Anniversary of the Gold King Mine Spill with Ty Churchwell. The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino del Rio.
Tuesday Sept. 16, 6-7:30 p.m.: History Live Cookbook Club Workshop High Altitude Cooking. Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 6:30-8 p.m.: Chasing Ghosts: A Ride with the American West’s Most Notorious Outlaw. By Andrew Gulliford. Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Thursday, Sept. 18, 7-8:30 p.m.: Native American Restorative Justice: NAGPRA at 35 by Kathy Fine-Dare. 130 Noble Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Saturday, Sept. 20, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.: Exhibit: Renderings of the Rider: Tracing the trails of the Western frontier from Remington and Beyond. Ignacio Creative District. Shoshone Park, Ignacio.
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 6-7 p.m.: Photographing the Dominguez-Escalante Trail of 1776 by Kathy Myrick. Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2-3 p.m.: Discover Your Family History by Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society. Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Drive, Bayfield.
Thursday, Sept. 25, 7-8:30 p.m.: From Minoans to Modernity: Crete’s 5,000-Year Journey, by Florian Walchak. 130 Noble Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
Friday Sept. 26, 6-7 p.m.: Chautauqua presentation: Sarah Platt Decker with Gail Beaton. Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Monday, Sept. 29, 5:30-7 p.m.: Unveiling Histories: Boarding Schools and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe (1870-1980). Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum, 503 Ouray Drive, Ignacio.
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 5:30-7 p.m.: Intro to Archaeology by Durango Public Library and the San Juan Basin Archaeology Society. Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
BONUS: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 6-8 p.m.: “Our Fight Has Just Begun,” by author and Navajo scholar Cheryl Redhorse Bennett. Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
