During her gap year from college in upstate New York, Katharine McKenna spent the summers of 1977 and 1978 as an intern at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. She documented her experience by journaling and taking photographs of the 24 trading posts she visited, and the countless miles she traveled through the Navajo and Hopi Nations in Northern Arizona. Journey of a Gap Year is an exhibition of her photography, with artifacts from Katharine and the Arizona Historical Society’s collections. This exhibit will be on display until September of 2024.

Inside what was once the hospital’s operating and recovering rooms, you will find information about how the indigent were cared for at the Poor Farm from 1908 until the 1930s.

Discover the history of Flagstaff’s beginning, growth, and ongoing cultural evolution. Find artifacts and stories from Indigenous peoples, transcontinental travelers, homesteaders, Great Migrators, and immigrants from across land and sea.

Visitors are introduced to the Pioneer Museum by two impressive artifacts: a 1929 Baldwin articulated locomotive used in logging operations with tender and log car and a Santa Fe RR caboose dating from the 1940’s. Visitors can enter the caboose and view an exhibit on the train personnel who would have lived in it when it was riding the rails. The historic 1908 Doney Cabin was relocated to Pioneer Museum from east of Flagstaff. Visitors can explore the one-room cabin and learn about Ben Doney, the colorful local character who built it. The grounds also house our heirloom garden, a 1915 Model T, many pieces of farm equipment, a chuck wagon, and a La France fire engine that saved Riordan Mansion from a devastating fire in 1921.