The collection of Kachina Dolls donated by the late Senator Barry Goldwater is impressive. Some of the dolls are over 100 years old. The artwork, costumes and crafts in the Museum are amazing.

There is a hands on area for everyone to try beading, art, cutouts, etc.

There’s a terrific gift shop and the staff is very eager to answer any questions you might have. It was wonderful to see the detailed handicrafts. A café that serves lunch and dessert open from 9:30pm to 3pm.
No flash videos, lights or tripods are allowed in the museum.

It was a wonderful way to spend a day and learn about Native American culture.

The various Southwestern Native American cultures are presented as individual and diverse civilizations, each with its own language, foods, economy, customs,etc...The lives of these indigenous people is very much connected to the land and what the land produces. The underlying philosophy of respect for land and each other is woven through the exhibits. There are videos,interactive exhibits, dioramas, a myriad of fascinating exhibits which present the various cultures in depth. You can spend hours/days in this museum! Allow enough time to appreciate it in its entirety.

The gift shop here is an absolute MUST to find one-of-a kind Native American treasures, music, books, etc... Native American guides from the various tribes are on hand to answer questions and provide detailed, sensitive answers to questions (and to provide help with making some of the take-home crafts constructed in the interactive exhibits). My niece and I struggled for 15 minutes at a bead-stringing exhibit, following the directions but failing to master the intricate design. We watched in dumbstruck amazement as a little Navajo girl, younger than age 5, stepped up to the exhibit and assembled the pattern in about 25 seconds. She looked at us with obvious pride in her accomplishment. We encountered this scenario several times during the visit and found that the Native American visitors-especially children-were more than happy to give us hands-on demonstrations of these crafts. While they are intitially shy and kind of nonverbal, if you communicate nonverbally and with smiles, they will respond.

Another fascinating experince happened while we were sitting outside on a bench in the courtyard. A Native American woman (possibly Navajo)) was making a call on her cell phone to her mother back home on the reservation. She was telling her mother that grandpa would have to take the tent poles back...they were the wrong size. She had evidently come to the museum, sought information and found answers to her questions. She was able to then relay the information back to the tribe via the modern communication! The museum has loads of examples like this where the old and the new show how they can live together and contribute to each other successfully.