BENSON — Cochise College is hosting a free Coffee and Lecture from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24 at the Benson Center.
The event features acclaimed speaker Hugh Grinnell, presenting “Saving the Great American West” about the life of his distant cousin, George Bird Grinnell.
Hugh Grinnell. (Courtesy of the AZ Humanities website)
“We’re excited to welcome Hugh Grinnell to our first Coffee and Lecture event,” said Barbara Richardson, Director of the Benson Center. “We want to give something back to the community and provide an opportunity to listen to this fabulous speaker and learn about Western heritage.”
The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes. Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.”
Grinnell founded the first Audubon Society, co-founded the Boone and Crockett Club with Teddy Roosevelt, and led the effort to establish Glacier National Park. Audiences will travel back in time to the 19th century, listening to Grinnell’s own words as taken from his field journals, memoirs, personal correspondence, and newspaper editorials. Additionally, audiences will enjoy dozens of 19th-century photographs, which visually capture Grinnell’s many expeditions and discoveries.
The event is made possible by a partnership between the Benson Center, the college’s Center for Lifelong Learning and the Arizona Humanities Council, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and by donation.
Organizations throughout the state use the Arizona Humanities Council’s resources not only to bring informative speakers, but also to build and feature exhibits and other resources to our community, host reading-and-discussion groups, and support local research into history and cultures.
For more information about the Coffee and Lecture event, visit www.cochise.edu/cll or call (520) 586-1981.