Payson Roundup

Historian Reba Wells Grandrud of Phoenix will present “In Their Own Words: Diaries of 19th Century Women,” at the monthly Library Friends of Payson gathering at 10:30 a.m. at the Payson Public Library’s meeting room.

All in the Payson-area communities are invited to attend at no charge.

This offers a rare opportunity to understand what it was like for women of yesteryear to disrupt their lives and travel the famous trails crossing the West, sometimes only to follow their husbands or fathers. This accurate information was obtained firsthand by studying what they personally wrote.

Grandrud, currently a consultant in historic preservation and oral history, recently retired as National Register coordinator of the Arizona State Historical Preservation Office and has been director of the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Papago Park.

She serves on the boards of the Arizona History Convention, Arizona State Committee on Trails, Anza National Historic Trail Advisory Council and the Pioneer Cemetery Association, among others.

She is one of four speakers still scheduled to speak at the Payson Public Library through November as part of the Humanities Council’s “Road Scholars” Speakers Bureau program.

A grant from the council makes this possible. Greg Scott, Nogales, speaks Sept. 24, using the cowboy song, “The Crooked Trail to Holbrook” as an entry to history; Gregory McNamee, Tucson, speaks Oct. 22 on the deeper meaning of Arizona place names; Karyn Riedell, Pine, appears Nov. 19, to discuss nature writing and its authors.

Discussion periods follow each speech, as well as a potluck lunch open to all those in attendance.