To me, there’s nothing better than a neat old photograph. An old photo is the intersection of art and history. Where technology, science, and life all freeze for a moment in time.

I was fortunate to grow up in a part of the world rich in history. The colorful characters, rugged terrain, and hot-tempered and adventurous people who carved Prescott out of the Arizona mountains made for a lot of great old photos.

William Jennings Bryant and Morris Goldwater at Telephone

Like this gem I found will sifting through the Arizona Photograph Company Collection curated by the Sharlot Hall Museum. According to the collection records this photo shows “William Jennings Bryant and Morris Goldwater testing the new Collins Wireless Telephone” at the Prescott Electric Telephone Company in around 1909.

Bryan was one of America’s most prominent figures during his lifetime. A lawyer by trade, he was an electrifying public speaker, congressman, three-time Democratic presidential candidate and US Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. He’s perhaps best known for his unsuccessful efforts to prosecute John Scopes for teaching evolution in a public school in the infamous Scopes Trial.