Museum of Northern Arizona

{{Short description|Museum in Coconino County, Arizona}}

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File:Museum of Northern Arizona.jpg]]

The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau.

The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist Dr. Harold S. Colton and artist Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is dedicated to preserving the history and cultures of northern Arizona and the Colorado Plateau.

File:Museum of Northern Arizona Ceramic Vessels.jpg

The museum has a cultural and research center, the Colton House, located outside of Flagstaff and is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museums program.

History

Harold Sellers Colton a zoology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton moved to Flagstaff in 1926, helping found the Museum of Northern Arizona in 1928. Harold became director and Marry-Russell became curator of art and ethnology.{{cite book |last1=Sutherland |first1=Mary |title=DK Eyewitness Travel USA |year=2015 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=978-1465412065 |page=520}}

In 1930, Katharine Bartlett, a physical anthropologist from Denver, became curator and would remain so for the next 51 years.

The private, nonprofit organization grew from two rooms in the Flagstaff Woman's Club to a 24,700-square-foot Exhibits building. Research and collections facilities are adjacent. The Ethnology Gallery focuses on the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Pai tribes.{{cite journal |last1=Stoutamire |first1=William F. |editor1-last=Turpie |editor1-first=David C. |title='Every Yard Boasted a Metate': Pothunting, Archaeology, and the Creation of the Museum of Northern Arizona |journal=The Journal of Arizona History |date=Summer 2022 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=153–186 |publisher=Arizona Historical Society |location=Tucson, AZ |issn=0021-9053 }}

References

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