Museum of Northern Arizona

The Museum of Northern Arizona was founded in 1928 by Harold Sellers Colton, a zoologist from a prominent Philadelphia family, and his wife Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, an accomplished artist. The Coltons had first visited northern Arizona on their honeymoon and were captivated by the region — its geology, its archaeology, and its living Native American cultures. They recognized that the region needed a serious institution to research, preserve, and interpret its heritage.

Harold Colton's scientific background shaped the museum's research mission; Mary-Russell Colton's artistic sensibility shaped its commitment to Native American arts and its support for contemporary Native artists. Together they built an institution that combined rigorous research with genuine respect for and partnership with the Native nations whose cultures the museum documented.

The museum's nearly-century-long history has included substantial archaeological research across the Colorado Plateau, the development of major collections, and the establishment of the Native American arts shows and marketplaces that remain central to the museum's calendar. The institution remains both a public museum and a working research center.

The museum's geology and paleontology exhibits interpret the deep history of the Colorado Plateau — the rock layers that the Grand Canyon exposes, the volcanic activity that built the San Francisco Peaks and the surrounding cinder cones, and the paleontology that includes substantial dinosaur material from the region's Triassic and Jurassic formations.

The archaeology exhibits document the ancient cultures of the Colorado Plateau — the ancestral Puebloan peoples whose cliff dwellings and pueblos are preserved at Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, and dozens of other sites across the region. The exhibits interpret these ancient cultures with the benefit of the museum's own substantial archaeological research.

The Native American art collection is one of the museum's defining strengths — pottery, textiles, jewelry, kachina carvings, and basketry representing the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and other nations of the region. The museum's commitment to contemporary Native arts, established by Mary-Russell Colton, continues through the Heritage Festival art shows and the museum's ongoing support for Native artists.

Beyond the permanent exhibits, the Museum of Northern Arizona is known for its heritage festivals — the annual Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni festivals that bring Native artists, performers, and cultural practitioners to the museum for art markets, demonstrations, performances, and cultural programming. These festivals are among the most significant Native American cultural events in northern Arizona.

The festivals reflect the museum's foundational commitment to partnership with living Native cultures rather than treating Native heritage as purely a matter of archaeology and history. Native artists sell their work directly, cultural practitioners share traditions on their own terms, and the festivals function as genuine cultural exchange rather than museum-curated display.

Travelers timing their Route 66 trip to coincide with one of the heritage festivals will experience the museum at its most vibrant. Festival schedules are available on the museum website; the festivals typically run during the summer and early fall months.

The museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Admission is $15 for adults with reduced rates for seniors, students, and youth. Plan 2-3 hours for a thorough visit; the museum is substantial enough to reward serious engagement.

The museum is located on Fort Valley Road just north of downtown Flagstaff, on the route toward the San Francisco Peaks and Arizona Snowbowl. The location makes it easy to combine a museum visit with the broader Flagstaff and high-country exploration.

For Route 66 travelers, the Museum of Northern Arizona is the single best stop for understanding the region the Mother Road crosses. A visit early in a Flagstaff stop provides the geological, archaeological, and cultural context that makes the subsequent Route 66 driving — across the high country, past the ancient sites, through the Native nations' lands — substantially more meaningful.