The Fort Historic Lecture Series

THE GREAT PLAINS & EMPIRE IN THE 18TH CENTURY: THE SEGESSER PAINTINGS (Lunch Lecture) SPAIN & THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE U.S. (Dinner Lecture)

Thomas E. Chávez, Ph.D.

October 5, 2025  (LUNCH: The Segesser Paintings)

Painted on buffalo hides in early 18th-century New Mexico, these two unique artworks depict battles on the plains—one identified as the 1720 conflict at the Platte and Loup Rivers. Sent to Switzerland by a Jesuit missionary in 1758 and rediscovered after WWII, they were returned to New Mexico in 1986 thanks in part to Dr. Chávez. Both rare artworks and revealing historical records, they are among the most important artifacts of Southwestern colonial history. 

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch. Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Pulled pork sandwich, coleslaw, fries, and dessert.

October 5, 2025  (DINNER: Spain & the Independence of the U.S.)

This is a history of the founding of the United States that highlights a lesser-known truth: without Spain’s support, the thirteen colonies might not have secured independence from Britain. While France’s role is well recognized, Spain also made vital contributions—through funding, supplies, manpower, and, most critically, diplomatic influence. Spain’s covert assistance and eventual entry into the war helped transform a colonial rebellion into a global conflict, ultimately ensuring victory for the American cause.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Spanish chicken and chorizo rice, Santa Fe Salad, seasonal vegetables, and Crema Catalana for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

Thomas E. Chávez, Ph.D.

Thomas E. Chávez, Ph.D., is an historian and former Executive Director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center. He previously led the Palace of the Governors State History Museum in Santa Fe for 21 years. A prolific author, he has published fourteen books, numerous articles, and a monthly column for The Santa Fe New Mexican. He has also consulted for cultural institutions and helped establish an endowment for the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art.

HONORABLE GARY M. JACKSON & DR. KIMBERLE JACKSON-BUTLER

The Hon. Gary M. Jackson is a retired Senior Judge of the Denver County Court and a recent inductee into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame and the Denver Public Library’s Black Colorado Hall of Fame. A University of Colorado graduate, he served as a chief trial deputy district attorney and assistant U.S. Attorney before entering private practice, where he spent 37 years as a distinguished trial attorney. In 2013, he was appointed to the bench by Mayor Michael Hancock and served until his retirement in 2020. 

Dr. Kimberle Jackson-Butler is the Executive Director of LAW SCHOOL...Yes We Can, an organization supporting high-achieving students from underrepresented communities in pursuing legal careers. A Denver native and Manual High School graduate, she holds degrees in Psychology, Family Counseling, and a Doctorate in Neuroscience Education from Johns Hopkins University. With over 20 years in education, she has served as an administrator, founded the consulting firm RE+Cognition LLC, and teaches at Johns Hopkins School of Education, focusing on mind, brain, and learning.

LINCOLN HILLS, A LEGACY OF JOY, COURAGE & RESISTANCE

Hon. Gary M. Jackson & Dr. Kimberle Jackson-Butler

October 19, 2025 

Lincoln Hills, founded in 1922 during the height of the KKK’s power and just after the Tulsa Massacre, became a rare haven for Black recreation, resilience, and community. Welcomed by Gilpin County, it thrived through the Great Depression, earning national recognition in the Green Book and Black newspapers. Hon. Gary M. Jackson and Dr. Kimberle Jackson-Butler will share the rich history of Lincoln Hills through stories, photos, and a presentation centered on their family’s Zephyr View cabin, built in 1926 and still serving as a mini-museum today.

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Taco bar and dessert  

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner. Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Bison ribs (2), The Fort's signature salad, goat cheese grits, seasonal vegetables, and No Bake Traditional Cheesecake for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

CITIZEN EXPLORER: ZEBULON PIKE IN THE ROCKIES OF COLORADO

Dr. Jared Orsi

November 2, 2025

In the San Luis Valley, in the winter of 1807, Spanish troops arrested Captain Zebulon Pike and his party of American soldiers.  The Spaniards said he was camped in New Spain.  He said he was in U.S. Territory on the Red River, some three-hundred miles away.  Was he lost?  Lying?  Or something else?  Author and historian Jared Orsi will explore the Jeffersonian-era political scandals, faulty Enlightenment science, and extreme physical hardship that brought Pike and his men to the banks of the Rio Conejos, hundreds of miles from their target.  

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Mac n' cheese bar with wild game sausages, The Fort's signature salad, dessert.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  6 oz. beef sirloin and quail with huckleberries, Caesar salad, The Fort Potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and Chocolate Chile Bourbon Cake for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

DR. JARED ORSI

Professor Jared Orsi is the author of Citizen Explorer: The Life of Zebulon Pike.  He teaches history at Colorado State University-Fort Collins and is the editor of the Western Historical Quarterly.  He is formerly the State Historian for the state of Colorado.

Mr. Ron Hranac

Ron Hranac is a member of Denver Astronomical Society's Board of Directors, its Executive Committee, and is a past president of the organization. Ron is a retired telecommunications engineer and a long-time amateur astronomer. He enjoys sharing views of the day and night sky with others through telescopes and binoculars. Ron has given presentations on astronomy-related topics at schools, museums, and many other venues along Colorado's Front Range, and has been a guest lecturer in the University of Denver's astronomy program.

THE NIGHT THE STARS FELL

Mr. Ron Hranac

November 16, 2025

Denver Astronomical Society's Ron Hranac will discuss meteors, meteor showers, and meteor storms. His lecture celebrates the 192nd anniversary of the Leonids meteor storm of 1833. Thousands of meteors blazed across the early morning sky of November 13, 1833, as many throughout North America watched one of the most spectacular sights in human history. Some estimates suggest the storm produced upwards of 100,000 meteors per hour during its peak. The event had a significant impact on the Plains Indians who believed this might signal the end of the world. Ron will also share tips on how to observe meteor showers.

After dinner, enjoy looking at stars in the night sky, and the planets Jupiter and Saturn, through telescopes in the Fort’s Courtyard, courtesy of the Denver Astronomical Society.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Shepherd's Pie with ground bison, The Fort's signature salad, and Spotted Dog Pudding à la mode.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

UNKNOWN TALES OF THE 10TH

Dr. Lance R. Blyth

January 11, 2026

Unknown Tales of the 10th is a series of stories learned about the 10th Mountain Division while writing Ski, Climb, Fight. For example, the Army knew of mountain warfare before Minnie Dole, the 10th Mountain Division was never at Camp Hale, and mountain warfare training continued in Colorado after the war.

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Beef brisket and grits, The Fort's signature salad, dessert.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by Dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Bison ribs (2), The Fort's signature salad, mashed potatoes with Dixon red chile, seasonal vegetables, and Prickly Pear No Bake Cheesecake for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

DR. LANCE R. BLYTH

Lance R. Blyth is a command historian of North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command and adjunct professor of history at the United States Air Force Academy. An experienced backcountry skier with a history problem, his research and writing focus on mountain warfare, publishing Ski, Climb, Fight: The 10th Mountain Division and the Rise of Mountain Warfare in 2024.

Mr. Mark Lee Gardner

Mark Lee Gardner is a recipient of the Frank Waters Award for Literary Excellence. His bestselling books, many of them award winners, include The Earth Is All That Lasts, Rough Riders, Shot All To Hell, and To Hell on a Fast Horse. An authority on the American West, Mark has appeared on numerous television programs and other media, including the hit Netflix docuseries Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War. His YouTube video for WIRED’s Tech Support, where Mark answers questions from the Internet about the Wild West, has received several million views. A native of Missouri, he holds an MA in American Studies from the University of Wyoming and lives with his family at the foot of Pikes Peak.

BROTHERS OF THE GUN: WYATT EARP, DOC HOLLIDAY, AND A RECKONING IN TOMBSTONE

Mark Lee Gardner

January 18, 2026

Legendary gunslingers Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday gained immortality because of a thirty-second shootout near a livery stable called the O.K. Corral. But what often isn’t told: three years earlier, Doc Holliday saved the life of then-assistant city marshal Wyatt Earp when he was surrounded by armed, belligerent cowboys—and thus began their lasting and curious friendship. In BROTHERS OF THE GUN: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone (Dutton; November 11, 2025), the first dual biography of the famed gunfighters, bestselling and award-winning author Mark Lee Gardner shares a colorful and groundbreaking account of the most storied friendship of the American West, with all the good, the bad, and the ugly of it.

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Mountain Man Burger Bar, regular and sweet potato fries, coleslaw and dessert.  

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Shrimp and Grits, The Fort's Signature Salad, seasonal vegetables, and Pomegranate Panna cotta for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

Chicano Activism in Colorado: The Fight for Land Rights in San Luis

Nicki Gonzales, Ph.D.

February 22, 2026

Dr. Gonzales will share the history of a 160 year-long land struggle in San Luis, Colorado. From the 1860s to the 1960s, the community defended its historic land rights through acts of resistance, fostering a culture of defiance. In 1960, facing its greatest challenge, a new generation of politically savvy activists emerged, forming the Land Rights Council in 1978. This group championed the cause—through coalition building, civil disobedience, and the courts—of cash-poor ranchers until 2002, when the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the community’s land rights, overturning decades of lower court rulings.

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Chipotle chicken salad, rolls, mixed green salad, and dessert.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Stuffed poblano peppers with wild boar chorizo topped with lime crema and Mexican cheeses, Santa Fe Salad, and Tres Leches cake for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

NICKI GONZALES, PH.D.

Dr. Nicki Gonzales, Professor of History and Vice Provost at Regis University, is a leading scholar of Chicano history and the American Southwest. A Denver native with deep roots in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, she has preserved oral histories of Chicano Vietnam veterans and advanced public understanding of Latino and Chicano contributions to Colorado’s past. Appointed the first Latina Colorado State Historian in 2021, she also helped lead Denver’s Latino/Chicano Historic Context Study.

DR. SUSAN SCHULTEN

Susan Schulten is a Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Denver, where she has taught since 1996. A historian of American ideas and cartography, she is the author of several acclaimed books, including A History of America in 100 Maps and Emma Willard: Maps of History. Her work has been supported by the Guggenheim, NEH, and Mellon Foundations. She is currently writing a book on mapmaker Richard Edes Harrison and will serve as Colorado’s State Historian in 2025–2026. At DU, she teaches a wide range of courses on U.S. history from the Civil War through the Cold War.

WESTWARD EXPANSION, THE SECESSION CRISIS & THE CREATION OF COLORADO TERRITORY

Dr. Susan Schulten

March 8, 2026

The prospect of westward expansion fostered both unity and division in the nineteenth century. From the U.S. war against Mexico to the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the drive to acquire new territory deepened sectional divisions, damaged the two-party system, and laid the groundwork for secession. Yet it was disunion—alongside mineral rushes and shifting conceptions of American geography—that made the organization of new western territories possible, shown most dramatically by the creation of Colorado Territory at the height of the secession crisis in 1861.

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Vegetarian and pork tamales, Santa Fe Salad, tortilla chips and salsa, and dessert.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  4 oz. Venison chop with huckleberries and wild boar and hatch chile, The Fort's signature salad, Fort potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and Negrita for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

CHARLES "MINNIE" DOLE: THE PEAK OF MASCULINITY & THE FRONTIER OF WESTERN SNOW

Ms. Julia Hornstein

April 12, 2026

Charles ‘Minnie’ Dole, a New Englander born in 1900, founded both the National Ski Patrol System — America’s first national ski safety organization — and Colorado’s famed Tenth Mountain Division, a military division during WWII. This lecture explores the roots of Minnie’s ideas, beginning in the East with his upbringing and time at Yale, where athletics and extracurricular life helped shape his perspective on manhood, service, and leadership. It traces how those values crystallized into his vision for the Tenth Mountain Division and how his recruitment efforts transformed Camp Hale — and later Aspen — into a western outpost of sociability and athleticism modeled on eastern collegiate life. Minnie Dole’s life story, set against twentieth-century socio-cultural dynamics, will offer a fresh perspective on the rise of recreational skiing in America’s interwar and postwar eras.

 Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Pork ribs, coleslaw, campfire beans, and dessert.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  BBQ beef brisket sliders, jicama coleslaw, sweet potato fries with Chipotle honey aioli, Caesar salad, Lemon No Bake Cheesecake for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.

JULIA HORNSTEIN

Julia Hornstein reports on venture capital, defense technology, and artificial intelligence for Business Insider, where she breaks news on major fundraises and covers cultural movements shaping Silicon Valley. Previously, she wrote about AI and its backers for The Information. Julia holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University, where she focused her studies on the American West.

ANGEL VIGIL

Angel Vigil is an award-winning author, storyteller, and educator specializing in the oral traditions of the Hispanic Southwest. He has received numerous honors, including the Heritage Artist Award and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education. Formerly Chair of Visual and Performing Arts at Colorado Academy, he now teaches at the History Colorado Center.

Angel has written seven acclaimed books on Hispanic and Western culture and has performed at major festivals nationwide. He is also a Colorado Humanities Chautauqua scholar, portraying key historical figures from the region’s past.

BORDERLANDS, LIVING IN TWO WORLDS - THE STORY OF HISPANICS IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Mr. Angel Vigil

April 26, 2026

El Norte, the Southwestern United States, has for centuries been a crossroads of histories, migrations, trade routes, languages, families and cultural traditions. These intersecting events have created a modern world of a tightly woven together tapestry of the lives of Spanish, Mexican and Indigenous people. Their shared history has given them a rich heritage. This is their story. 

Lunch Lecture is from 11 AM to 12 NOON followed by lunch.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Club sandwiches, coleslaw, chips, and dessert.

Dinner Lecture is from 6 PM to 7 PM followed by dinner.  Tickets HERE!

MENU:  Cha Cha Chicken topped with Tomatillo sauce, Santa Fe Salad, mashed potatoes with Dixon red chile, seasonal vegetables, and Fruits of the Forest Pie à la mode for dessert.

Please call 303-839-1671 if you have any dietary restrictions or any questions.