December League meeting

Festive outfits and Vintage Santa centerpieces, provided by Sandy Loeffler, make our Holiday December meeting a consistently popular occasion. 

Susan Dale, Bonnie Newhoff

Patt Walker, Sharron McKinney, Katie Tovar

Pat Grogg, Anne Lupica

Pat Christopherson, Sandy Loeffler

Norma Jean Coulter, Dr. David Breeckner

Nina von Schroeter, April Bevins

Very Successful 2025 Historymaker Celebration Turquoise & Treasures

 Cheers to our fabulous leaders for a very successful 2025 Historymaker Celebration Turquoise & Treasures! They were recognized at the December meeting.

Thanksgiving Table Talk

 Thanksgiving Table Talk — Family Story Prompts. One of the perks of membership in AHS is some great correspondence. Vince Bradley, Deputy Assistant Director at Arizona

Historical Society sent out "10 story prompts to spark memories, laughter, and a little oral history at home." Here are 3.

1. What’s a place in Arizona (or where you grew up) that instantly brings back memories?

2. Who was the best storyteller in your family, and what tale did they tell over and over?

3. Describe a “first” you remember clearly—first home here, first job, first Arizona summer monsoon.

https://arizonahistoricalsociety.org/ahs-membership/

Historymaker Documentary for 2025 Turquoise & Treasures

Creating a documentary: Thanks to the knowledge of high  school junior, Thanvi Voruganti, 1992-2023 Arizona Historymakers have been recorded in a 20-minute documentary. Thanvi was the Curator. 

The documentary committee: Creative Director Ruth McLeod, Editors Cathy Shumard and Zona Lorig, AHS National History Day Coordinator Leonard Moody, AHS V.P. Education Dr. Kristen Rex, and NHD Advisor/Teacher Stacey Trepanier are grateful for her expertise. Ruth commented, “Thanvi was delightful to work with, clear grasp of the goals, creative and prompt in  her response to the project.

The documentary featured all Historymakers from 1992-2023. It was emailed to all 2025 Historymakers, Historymakers who came to the event and all attendees. 

https://www.youtube.com/@arizonahistoricalleague 

Thanvi posed with Eleanor Roosevelt while in Washington D.C. for National History Day competition

Thank you to attendees of Arizona Historymakers Celebration

 Thank you to attendees of Arizona Historymakers Celebration: Turquoise & Treasures Oct 25, 2025. It was a pleasure to honor John R. Graham, Dr. Eric M. Reiman, Sharon Harper, Sister Adele O'Sullivan, Diana 'Dede' Yazzie Devine, F. Ronald 'Ron' Rayner, Bob Boze Bell, Dr. Duane Wooten and Dr. Oliver Harper.

GreenenVelope is a engaging, animated way to send invitations and thank you notes.

Mother of Thanksgiving: Sarah Josepha Hale

 

From Wikipedia -Mother of Thanksgiving: Sarah Josepha Hale may be the individual most responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States; it had previously been celebrated mostly in New England.[31] Each state scheduled its own holiday, some as early as October and others as late as January; it was largely unknown in the American South. Her advocacy for the national holiday began in 1846 and lasted 17 years before it was successful.[32] In support of the proposed national holiday, Hale wrote presidents Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. Her initial letters failed to persuade, but the letter she wrote to Lincoln convinced him to support legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863.[33] The new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of the Civil War.[34] Before Thanksgiving's addition, the only national holidays celebrated in the United States were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day.[35] Hale's efforts earned her the nickname "Mother of Thanksgiving".[36] Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History curator of food history, Paula J. Johnson, claims that Hale was "key in bringing together and popularizing the Thanksgiving holiday with the menu featuring turkey and stuffing".[37]

In her novel Northwood: Or, a Tale of New England, Hale devotes an entire chapter to describing the many dishes of Thanksgiving—roasted turkey, gravy and savory stuffing, chicken pie, pumpkin pie, pickles, cakes and preserves—and to drink ginger beer, currant wine and cider.[38]

Happy Thanksgiving from The Historical League