Description: Some how I seem to really discover U of A museums when I have an hour or so to kill. So on a slightly blustery day when I had an hour before a meeting I was somehow not surprised to find myself in front of a museum.
The Arizona historical society unsurprisingly focuses on Arizona history. It has spaces for several temporary exhibits along with a few old standbys.
On a recent visit one of these temporary exhibits was on the Rio Nuevo project. In Tucson it’s largely considered a joke of a project to revitalize down town. It is such a large joke because it started when I was in the fifth grade and little has been done since. However this exhibit focuses on the often ignored, successful part of the project, a huge excavation site containing a multitude of early Tucson history. It was nice to see the positive side of such a doomed project.
Of the old stand-by exhibits, I am most fond of the replicated Victorian era Tucson rooms. Only in Tucson would one see rooms decked out with fine china and a wildcat rug. I am also fond of the transportation area. Mostly because of fond memories from the third grade when my group plotted, quite unsuccessfully, to sneak into the stage coach. The only area I’m not fond of is the mine area. The amazing minerals and fascinating facts are all quite all right but the model of the mine they have is quite dark and realistic. I wish I could truly appreciate it, but I somehow always have to take it at a bit of a run, it just creeps me out to no end.
overall though this really is a great museum. It’s worth the three bucks, especially for those non-Tucsonian students to get a taste of the history of Tucson.
BTW: The first Saturday of each month, the museum is free!
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