Arizona offers a wide variety of museums with interactive exhibits that showcase the state’s history and culture in both informative and engaging manners. From cowboy collections to American Indian exhibits to quirky, off-the-beaten path displays, there is an Arizona museum to match any interest. Here are a few fascinating exhibits visitors can experience.
American Indian History
There are 22 American Indian tribes in Arizona and many encourage travellers to visit their communities to experience their culture and museums. In Northern Arizona, the Navajo Nation welcomes visitors to learn about their history and traditions at the Navajo Interactive Museum in Tuba City where guests can learn the Nation’s creation stories and step inside a traditional Navajo hogan. Venture into the nearby Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit, which honours the significant role Navajo marines played in WWII, using the Navajo language to pass on uncrackable coded military messages. Next, travel to Eastern Arizona to the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the White Mountain Apache Cultural Center and Museum to explore the Tribe’s heritage through artefacts, oral stories and local artwork. Before exploring in Phoenix or Scottsdale, venture to the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation in Central Arizona to see traditional woven baskets and clothing of the Yavapai people at the Yavapai Nation Cultural Center/Museum in Fort McDowell.
Spend a day in Phoenix observing traditional and contemporary American Indian art at the internationally acclaimed Heard Museum. While in Flagstaff, take a break from hiking or skiing to spot stunning American Indian artefacts and art at the Native Peoples of the Colorado Plateau exhibit in the Museum of Northern Arizona which represents ten tribes of the Colorado Plateau displaying their various tools, pottery and folk craft. Southern Arizona offers travellers various American Indian museums in or near Tucson including Mission Garden, an agricultural museum of heritage and traditional local heirloom crops, and the Amerind Museum in Dragoon, a vast collection of American Indian artefacts such as indigenous dolls, games and jewellery.
Western Art and Culture
Embrace the Wild West by learning about cowboys, the ranch lifestyle and their long-lasting impact at immersive Western museums. Mosey around Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West to explore the essence of the West through cowboy gear, native pottery, Western film posters and southwestern paintings. Uncover the history and diverse stories of the Old West at Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, a vast collection of artefacts and art including an art exhibit dedicated to showcasing women western artists’ artwork that can be purchased by visitors. In the famous outlaw town of Tombstone, stop by Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park that now serves as a museum to learn about the town’s famous gunfights and iconic cowboys such as Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp.
Mining History and Culture
Unearth Arizona’s mining history and culture to understand the importance of copper and mining towns to the state’s growth. Become a miner roaming the tunnels for copper and minerals while at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, a former mining town that has transformed into an artist hotspot. Here learn about the mining process, see mining tools and observe how copper helped revolutionise technology. Stop by Jerome to visit the Douglas Mansion, a historic home originally built for mining officials that was transformed into the Jerome State Historic Park; a museum to preserve the town’s mining history. While copper is best known for its efficient properties, the Arizona Copper Art Museum in Clarkdale invites visitors to see the beauty of copper with its art-like gallery displays of the many different art forms of the precious metal with more than 5,000 copper art pieces.
Historic Route 66
Learn the history of Route 66 just in time for the historic route’s centennial anniversary in 2026 by cruising along Arizona’s portion of the Mother Road and taking in vibrant collections of classic Americana memorabilia. Journey into Kingman to experience the Arizona Route 66 Museum located within the historic Powerhouse building that displays the route’s evolution. The museum’s artefacts, murals and dioramas showcase the history of how Route 66 went from thriving to almost extinction before being revived in recent decades. After seeing the route’s past, get a glimpse at the future of transportation at the Route 66 Electric Vehicle (EV) Museum, the world’s first electric vehicle museum offering 28 vintage electric vehicles and EV educational information. Continue down the road to see the Hackberry General Store, a store with vintage gas pumps and cars before visiting the Delgadillo’s historic gift shop in Seligman, both unofficial museums that reveal Route 66 history.
Quirky Collections
Expect the unexpected at these peculiar museums that ignite visitors’ curiosity with their eccentric exhibits. Fans of fossils, dinosaurs and potty humour will all enjoy roaming around the Poozeum in Williams, a new free museum dedicated to dinosaur poop, scientifically known as coprolite. Visitors will be pleasantly surprised to discover that the world’s largest collection of Last Supper art resides in the small town of Douglas at the Last Supper Museum. See the iconic Last Supper depicted in every medium from paintings to sculptures. In Tombstone, there is a museum dedicated to the world’s largest rose bush, the Rose Tree Museum where visitors can get a glimpse into what life was like in the rowdy town of Tombstone before being awe-struck by the approximately 9,000 square feet rosebush.
The Arts
Patrons of the arts seeking to get lost in paintings, music compositions or photo galleries must stop by Arizona’s museums that highlight the beauty of the arts. Hear music from all around the world at the Music Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, the world’s only global music instrument museum where visitors can see and hear over 8,000 instruments from more than 200 countries. Spot desert landscapes, contemporary pieces and abstract sculptures at the Phoenix Art Museum, the largest art museum in the southwest with pop culture exhibits, a fashion collection and an immersive light art room.
Spend time strolling around the Tucson Museum of Art’s centennial celebration exhibit, Time Travelers: Foundations, Transformations and Expansion at the Centennial, which showcases the museum’s growth through its signature art pieces and newer additions before taking in the museum’s vast collection of Latin American inspired art. Get a peek inside the mind of legendary Arizona artist Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia at the De Grazia Gallery in the Sun Museum, an adobe art gallery the artist created to display his Southwestern-inspired masterpieces exactly as he envisioned. The walls of the University of Arizona’s Tucson Center for Creative Photography tell countless stories thanks to its rotating photo exhibits of the world renowned photographers work.
