Nevada Historical Society's History on the Go: 180 Years Later, Donner Party Still Makes News
The Nevada Historical Society's building may be closed for an exciting remodel, but you can still enjoy their fascinating lectures at the Sierra View Library during their closure. NHS Nevada History - On The GO! Series is combining their three history programs that delve into Nevada History, Lake Tahoe, and the American Gaming Archives gambling and gaming history. Make sure to visit Sierra View Library on the first Saturday of every month to learn more about Nevada’s history through these engaging talks that are geared towards audiences of all ages.
December 6, 2026
Title of Talk:180 Years Later, Donner Party Still Makes News
Speaker: Frank Mullen, historian, author, newspaper editor, and writer
Summary of Talk: After his Donner Party Chronicles was published in 1997, author Frank Mullen thought he was done walking with the ghosts of those star-crossed pioneers. But history marches on. Over the last quarter century new letters from Tamsen Donner surfaced, archeologists unearthed bones and artifacts at the high camps, researchers pinpointed the forgotten trails of the party’s rescuers — and discovered the site of the infamous “Camp of Death,” where an escape group was trapped by storms. Frank was present at all of it. He will share those developments and others featured in the second revised edition of The Donner Party Chronicles.
Speaker Bio: Frank X. Mullen is a journalist, author, pioneer trails researcher and Chautauqua scholar. He has been a newspaperman for 49 years, including 25 years as an editor and investigative reporter at the Reno Gazette-Journal. In 2020, he came out of retirement to take over the Reno News & Review, which went out of business during COVID. Frank kept the newspaper alive on the Web and shepherded it back into print in 2022. His Chautauqua characters include Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, and Henry VIII. Frank has appeared in documentaries on the History Channel, PBS, and other networks. He taught journalism classes at UNR for 15 years and continues to teach at TMCC. In 2021, the Nevada Press Association inducted Frank into the Nevada Journalism Hall of Fame.
