“Searching for Mesa: Finding Ourselves In Our History”

The Mesa Southwest Museum & Mesa Historical Museum have announced plans for their 1st joint exhibition, “Searching for Mesa: Finding Ourselves in our History,” a comprehensive history of the Mesa region covering more than 2,000 years. The exhibit is scheduled to open at the Mesa Southwest Museum May 6th. The exhibit begins with an overview of the ancient Hohokam civilization. Four hundred years after the Hohokam’s cultural disappearance, the earliest settlements of the Mesa region along the Salt River by Mormon pioneers in 1877, the development of Roosevelt Dam, the advent of Arizona statehood, the Great Depression, & the eventual boom of post-war tourism after World Wars I & II. The exhibit also features more than 200 historic photographs & hundreds of artifacts from the collections of both museums, as well as recorded oral histories from past Mesa residents & a variety of hands-on activities for children. For more information about the Mesa Southwest Museum, visit http://www.mesasouthwestmuseum.org or call (480) 644-2230. For more information about the Mesa Historical Museum, visit http://www.mesaaz.org or call (480) 835-7358.