Historian Patty Cafferata to feature at Gold Hill Hotel lecture Dec. 10

Attorney, author, and historian Patty Cafferata will talk about the history of how Nevada celebrates Christmas at Gold Hill Hotel’s Thursday Night Lecture Series on Dec. 10.

Cafferata, a lifelong resident of Reno, was elected Nevada State Treasurer in 1982. She is the first woman elected to any constitutional office in the state. She also served as district attorney for Lincoln, Lander, and Esmeralda counties, and one term as a state assemblywoman.

Cafferata published five books about Nevada history, including “The Goldfield Hotel: Gem of the Desert;” “Mapes Hotel: The History of Reno’s Landmark Hotel and Casino;” and “More than a Song and a Dance: The Heyday of Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada, circa 1863 to 1897.”

Dinner is 4-8 p.m. at the hotel’s Crown Point Restaurant. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Room. The cost is $25 for the dinner and lecture and $10 for the lecture only. Reservations are required by calling at 775-847-0111.

Other lectures include: Kristin Hamlet’s “How Brothels Work ­from an Insider —­ Then and Now” on Dec. 17; Steve Botts’ “Life of Mark Twain” on Jan. 7; and Tom Zachry’s Western, folk and original songs on Jan. 1