Dr. Jack L. August, Jr. papers

Dr. Jack Louis August Jr. (January 7, 1954 -- January 20, 2017) grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, as the eldest of five children. As a boy, he was friends with the noted film director John Waters, with whom he attended a private elementary school. An accomplished athlete and scholar, Jack was a Central High graduate (1971) and a collegiate swimmer and diver at Yale (1971-1975). He earned his master's from UA (1979) and his PhD from the University of New Mexico (1985). August was named historian and director of Institutional Advancement at the Arizona Capitol Museum in early 2016, shortly before his death.

His research and scholarship focused on regional and environmental history of the southwest and Arizona. As a Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, he authored ten books and numerous articles on a variety of topics relating to the American West.

He appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including "Horizon," "Arizona Illustrated," the KAET/PBS documentary "Arizona Memories from the 1960s," the HBO documentary "Barry Goldwater: Mr. Conservative," and National Public Radio features, including "All Things Considered" with Robert Siegel. He was a frequent contributor to newspapers, magazines, and historical journals including the Arizona Republic, Arizona Highways, Phoenix Magazine, Journal of Arizona History, Pacific Historical Review, Western Historical Quarterly, and many others. He also wrote a popular monthly column, "Around Arizona History" which carries the tagline "You need your food, you need your water, and you need your history" for the Arizona Food Industry Magazine.

Dr. August taught classes at both the undergraduate and graduate level as well as authored many articles and books on well-known figures in Arizona's history. Some of his most popular works include Vision in the Desert: Carl Hayden and Hydropolitics in the American Southwest (Ft. Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1999); Senator Dennis DeConcini: From the Center of the Aisle (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2006); and co-authored with former three-term US Senator from Arizona, Dennis DeConcini, Dividing Western Waters: Mark Wilmer and Arizona v California (Ft. Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2009). He also co-authored with Beth Murfee, Play by Play: Phoenix and the Buildings of the Herberger Theater (Ft. Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2010). August also completed a comprehensive one-volume work entitled Norton Trilogy: A History of Water and Agribusiness in the American Southwest. Many of his additional articles and works focused on Carl Hayden and his water politics.

August served as Executive Director of the Barry Goldwater Center for the Southwest, a non-profit and non-partisan 501 c3 corporation dedicated to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of the history and culture of the Arizona and Southwest (also known as the Arizona Historical Foundation; the Foundation became defunct in June 2012 and its archival collections were transferred to the Arizona Historical Society at Papago Park). He also worked with Snell and Wilmer LLC as a Visiting Scholar in Legal History as well as serving as a litigation consultant/expert witness for Resolution Copper Company LLC, a division of Rio Tinto Limited in London, England.

Previously a historian in Northern Arizona University's Statewide Programs, he taught courses in Western Water Policy and the New American Est for the Master's in Liberal Studies Program and undergraduate history courses focusing on the American Environment, American West, Far Southwest, and Arizona, via interactive instructional television and satellite cable for Northern Arizona University. He is a former Fulbright Scholar, National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow, and Pulitzer Prize nominee in the history category for 2000. He has served as historian and expert witness in the Natural Resources Section of the Arizona Attorney General's Office where his work focused on Indian versus non-Indian water issues and state trust lands.

Jack August passed away in 2017 after a sudden illness at age 63. At the time of his passing, he was working as the state historian and the director of Institutional Advancement at the Arizona Capitol Museum. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Flower August.

Biographical Note authored by Stephen Hussman, 2022.