Watch now: 'Big Jim' Griffith shares tales of Tucson and beyond
In 2015, the late James S. "Big Jim" Griffith shared stories, artifacts, and songs of the Southwest in the Star's "Our Storied Desert Land" video series.
Here is a look back at some highlights featuring the famed Tucson folklorist:
Watch now: Big Jim and the organ pipe cactus
Watch now: Big Jim's hand carved mesquite tortilla press
Watch now: Big Jim answers 'How hot is it?'
Watch now: Big Jim: Harvesting saguaro fruit
Watch now: Big Jim talks 'helium monsters'
Watch now: Big Jim and a tale of buried treasure
Watch now: Storyteller extraordinaire Big Jim tells a tale about crossing the border
Watch now: Big Jim on chiltepines and how to crush them
Watch now: Big Jim: Yaqui Easter rosaries
Watch now: Big Jim sings 'Tying Knots in the Devil's Tail'
Roman Barten-Sherman spent more than a year working with the late Big Jim Griffith during the pandemic, digitizing the Tucson folklorist's collection of field recordings.
James S. "Big Jim" Griffith lived such a big life defining Tucson's senses of place and self that it's hard to imagine this special place without him, as many admirers have been saying since his death Saturday at age 86.
Cultural anthropologist James S. "Big Jim" Griffith, 86, died Dec. 18. Here are some of his stories. One begins: "According to their owners, these stories should be told only during the cold weather, when the snakes are asleep ..."
For several decades, "Big Jim" Griffith has devoted his life to documenting and championing the culture connections and heritage of Southern A…
The annual Tucson folklife festival returns to Tucson to celebrate the diverse communities and people living in and around the Old Pueblo.
Gather 'round as editorial cartoonist David Fitzsimmons recites a reimagined version of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” in this holida…