Phoenix

Libraries and Museums

Phoenix's first library, housed in two rooms of a building, was launched at the turn of the century, thanks to the efforts of the Phoenix Library Association, formed in 1899. Today the Phoenix Public Library has a collection totaling 1.8 million book volumes, as well as publications and other media. It has a main building downtown, and 11 neighborhood branches throughout the city. Altogether, Phoenix has more than 50 libraries of all types, including university libraries and research centers.

The Phoenix Art Museum displays artworks by American, European, and Asian artists. Its permanent collection consists of some 18,000 objects, and it is noted particularly for its collections of Asian and Latin American art, and eighteenth-century French painting. The museum of the Arizona Historical Society offers interactive exhibits focusing on the history of central Arizona and includes life-size re-creations of stores and other buildings from the city's early days. The Heard Museum of Anthropology and Primitive Art features an outstanding collection focusing on regional Native American cultures. Displayed are artifacts ranging from prehistory to the present, including tools, clothing, weapons, and Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni crafts.

The Phoenix Hall of Flame is a fire-fighting museum with one of the world's most extensive collections of fire-fighting gear, gathered from all over the world and ranging from horse-drawn equipment to state-of-the-art computerized dispatch systems. Other museums in the Phoenix area include the Phoenix Museum of History; the Arizona Museum of Science and Technology, an interactive museum geared primarily toward children; Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum; Cave Creek Museum; Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum; Arizona Military Museum; the Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park, which focuses on archaeology and the history of the Hohokam Indians, the first known inhabitants of present-day Phoenix; and the Plotkin Judaica Museum. The Arizona Hall of Fame, located in downtown Phoenix, honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to the state.

Historic artifacts are on view in four turn-of-the-century homes located in Heritage Square: the Arizona Doll and Toy Museum, the Silva House, the Stevens-Haustgen House (home of the Pueblo Grande Museum described above), and the Rosson House, which features an exceptional collection of period furniture.