Prescott’s Doc HolliDaze Presents A Wild West History Forum at the Elks Theatre, Saturday, August 15

Prescott’s Doc HolliDaze presents A Wild West History Forum at the Elks Theatre on Saturday, August 15, 2026, from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM. There will be a lunch break between noon-1:30pm.

Tickets to the History Forum only are $25, available through www.PrescottTombstoneConnection.org

Speakers and Papers

Anastasia Sitnina

DOC HOLLIDAY: EARLY LIFE, FAMILY AND EDUCATION

Before he was ‘Doc’, he was John Henry Holliday. This talk turns to his early years, looking at his family – his father, uncles, and cousins – as well as his education at Valdosta Academy and the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. By examining the people he grew up with and the world he moved in during his childhood and adolescence, the presentation offers a closer look at Holliday’s underexplored background and Holliday’s world before he set his own course.

Anastasia Sitnina is a British researcher, writer, and filmmaker with a longstanding interest in the history of the American West. She has been studying Doc Holliday and related subjects for over fifteen years, with work published in the Wild West History Association Journal. She is currently completing a Master’s by Research degree at the University of Kent, where her work examines the mythology, economics, and politics of the “O.K. Corral.” She is also the founder of a popular Facebook community dedicated to the historical discussion of Doc Holliday.

Peter Brand with Brad Courtney

JOSEPHINE “SADIE” EARP IN PRESCOTT: THE SORDID TRUTH VERSUS ROMANTIC FICTION

Many in Prescott know that she spent some time in their hometown, but most do not know the true story about Josephine “Sadie” Earp in Prescott. After several years of extensive and intensive research, Peter Brand discovered her true profession and told the story in his award-winning book, Josephine “Sadie” Earp: The Sordid Truth, 1870-1883. But he learned much more in the process. There was also an innocent victim of Sadie’s activities in Prescott, and her story has been ignored over the decades while the public was being fed a fictitious, over-the-top romanticized fairy-tale concocted by Sadie to hide the truth. Until now. In an interview style Q & A discussion with historian Bradley G. Courtney, Brand will reveal the truth about Sadie’s activities, and the resulting fall-out, during Prescott’s Doc HolliDaze Wild West History Forum on August 15 at the beautiful and historical Elks Theater.

Peter Brand is a multi-award-winning researcher and author who has been writing about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and their friends and enemies since 1999. He has written several articles for True West Magazine, The Tombstone Epitaph newspaper, and the Wild West History Association Journal. Peter has published ground-breaking biographies of Josephine “Sadie” Earp, “Texas Jack” Vermillion and “Doc” Holliday’s Nemeses – Johnny Tyler & Perry Mallon. Brand’s new work, a book on Victoria Behan is due for release in July 2026. He continues to conduct research on the members of Wyatt Earp’s Vendetta Posse and is currently working on a book detailing the full story of Wyatt Earp’s Vendetta Ride and the lives of the Vendetta Posse members.

Roy B. Young

NEWTON EARP IN PRESCOTT

Newton Earp, eldest brother of the famous Earp lawman siblings, was the longest serving lawman of any Earp brother.  While he did some traveling across country with his parents and siblings, Newton was not a “rambling man.” After years in Kansas, he and his family went with the Earp party to Arizona where he and Virgil had determined to settle. Soon, though, his wife became unhappy and pleaded with Newton to return to Kansas. This they did and lived in the Garden City area for many years, where Newton served in both town and county law enforcement roles. Newton didn’t have a Doc Holliday or a Gunfight at the OK Corral to bolster his status as a lawman and his services drew little national notice. His story is one that might match that of many unknown lawmen who gave their lives in service to their fellow man. In this presentation, we will look at Newton Jasper Earp: Mystery Brother of the Fighting Earps.

Roy B. Young is a native Oklahoman, residing in the little village of Apache. He has authored numerous books, many of which deal with the outlaw-lawman history of the American West.  His areas of specialty are Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Billy the Kid, the Texas Rangers and frontier scouts. Roy served three years as president of the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association as well as ten years on their board of directors. He also served three years as president of Oklahombres. In 2008, he became editor of the Journal of the Wild West History Association and is now “Editor Emeritus” while serving his 16^th year of the WWHA board of directors.

Michael Paul Mihaljevich

DOC HOLLIDAY’S TOMBSTONE ESCAPADES

In just 36 years of life, Doc Holliday created an alluring legend that has kept generations captivated for nearly 140 years after his death. Among the layers of lore, his time in Tombstone, Arizona is a major source of his present-day fame, and much of what we like about Doc’s legend was on display in the events that unfolded there. But what can we learn about the real man by deep diving into the untapped records and resources from when he walked the streets of Tombstone? Using a combination of discovered and newly discovered primary records from Doc’s tumultuous 19 months in Tombstone, the man himself is brought to life revealing a more authentic and compelling John Henry Holliday than we’ve known before.

Michael Paul Mihaljevich is an author, historical researcher and art photographer. He has worked with the collections department of the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson and the Tombstone City Archives. His writings have appeared in several academic western history publications and his recently published book The Bird Cage Theater: The Curtain Rises on Tombstone, Arizona’s National Treasure from the University of North Texas Press. As a photographer his internationally awarded work has been featured in documentaries of Ken Burns and notable publications such as Western Life Today and Big Sky Journal.

Pam Potter

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JD KINNEAR

John D. Kinnear, owner of the stage line between Benson, Tombstone, and Tucson, lived a life of adventure marked by law enforcement, multiple marriages, and shifting fortunes. When Wyatt Earp arrived in Tombstone in 1879 hoping to start his own stage company, he instead sold his equipment to Kinnear – an unexpected decision that helped set the stage for the events leading to the gunfight near the OK Corral. Pam will give us a deep dive into a man with a Tombstone – Prescott connection. John Kinnear was a quintessential pioneer with a troubled love life.

After the Wild West History Forum on Saturday, August 15th, there will be a grave marker dedication at 4:00 PM for J D Kinnear’s grave at the Pioneer’s Home Cemetery at 1300 W Iron Springs Road. There is no charge to attend the dedication. The grave marker has been arranged and funded by the Wild West History Association.

Pam Potter is a Western history advocate, editor, and organizational leader whose work connects family history, research, and public engagement with the legacy of the American West.

She is a Past President of the Wild West History Association and served on the Steering Committee that combined the National Association for Outlaw Lawman History and Western Outlaw Lawman Association into the Wild West History Association in 2008. She has remained on the Board and also serves as editor of the WWHA Saddlebag newsletter and Social Media Chair, supporting Facebook, the website, and the YouTube channel.