Museums
In this section you will find information on selected museums focusing on Utah's history and arts venues. These, and many, many more, are waiting to catch your eye and spark your interest in Utah's heritage and culture. In addition to the heritage museums featured here, many cities have Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museums. These eclectic collections include wonderful treasures. Inquire locally for details. Other museums and collections are detailed on the American Indian Tribes page.

Northern Utah

Science Museum AlpineAlpine Art Center, (801) 763-7173. Master-minded by two Utah sculptors, Dennis Smith and Steve Streadbeck, this facility is not just a museum, but also a state-of-the-art foundry offering the unique opportunity to see metal-cast art works in process. An outdoor sculpture park surrounds the art center. Interior galleries display sculpture, paintings and watercolor works. Classes in a variety of art techniques are being developed for adults and children.

BountifulBountiful-Davis Art Center, 2175 S. Main, (801) 292-0367. Exhibitions; gift gallery; art classes.

Brigham CityBrigham City Museum-Gallery, 24 N. 300 West, (435) 723-6769. Permanent history displays, including historic preservation and downtown revitalization. Historic research and publications. Children's hands-on exhibits. Quilt exhibits. Rotating art exhibits with all media, including electronic art.

KaysvilleThe Kaysville LeConte Stewart Gallery of Art, 44 N. Main,(801) 544-2826. Gallery collection represents the various styles of this popular Utah artist.

LehiJohn Hutchings Museum of Natural History, 685 N. Center St, (801) 768-7180. Pioneer exhibits, undersea life from Puerto Rico and Pacific; Indian artifacts; minerals; birds and eggs; fossils; Viet Nam and South Sea Islands memorabilia.

Logan

The AVA Art Center, 43 South Main Street, (435) 753-2970, and the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University,(435) 797-0163 have permanent and traveling art exhibits year-round.

American West Heritage Center, 4025 S. Highway 89-91 in Wellsville, 435-245-4064. Living history special events throughout the year. Regular summer activities take place May 15 - Oct 17. Open daily 10-4 and closed Sun & Mon. $15 family, $5 adults, $4 senior citizens/students, $3 children (under 12).

Ogden

Eccles Community Art Center, 2580 Jefferson Ave, (801) 392-6935, features monthly exhibitions guided by well-trained docents.Fort Buenaventura State Park, 2450 A Ave, (801) 621-4808. Fort Buenaventura brings back one of the most fascinating periods in Western American folk-lore, the Mountain Man era. The Fort has been recreated on the original site, and guides in period dress interpret the fort as well as the historical lifestyle of the Mountain Men and the Indians who inhabited the area. Authentic artifacts are also displayed.

Hill Aerospace Museum, 7961 Wardleigh Rd., Roy, off I-15 just south of Ogden on Hill Air Force Base, (801) 777-6868. It has one of the largest collections of vintage aircraft assembled anywhere in the United States. Guided tours combine facts with engaging stories of planes and the pilots who flew them.

Union Station, 2501 Wall Ave, 801-629-8446, houses a railroad museum, vintage car collection, gem and mineral exhibit and other noteworthy displays. It also offers a visitor information center and seasonal events and exhibits.

Park City

Kimball Art Center, 638 Park Ave, (435) 649-8882, provides a complete center for the visual arts with gallery and studio space. Traveling exhibits are a regular feature, as are art and craft workshops. Park City has many other art galleries for browsing.Among other reminders of the town's rowdy silver mining past,The Park City Museum, 528 Main, (435) 645-5135 has a re-created Territorial Jail, yearly exchanging exhibits, and summer walking tours led by costumed guides.

Provo/Orem

UVSC Woodbury Gallery, University Mall - Orem, (801) 426-6199. The UVSC Woodbury Gallery seeks to provide cultural and educational opportunities to Utah Valley students and residents. It is located in a new facility of the second floor of University Mall and is accessible through an external entrance between Nordstrom and The Gap. Rotating exhibitions include work by local and national artists, group and one-person shows, traveling exhibitions and juried shows. Art resource library and educational programs are in progress. Hours: Tuesday—Saturday 10 am–5:30 pm; Wednesdays 10–8 pm; closed holidays

McCurdy Historical Doll Museum, 246 N. 100 East - Provo,(801) 377-9935. The museum is housed in a carriage house built in 1984 and subsequently restored. Over 3,000 dolls are on display. Special displays are held monthly with coordinated story-telling,puppet shows and tea parties.

Brigham Young University / Provo

Museum of Art, North Campus Dr, (801) 378-8256. Family interactive center, print study room, theater, art study center; 75-seat restaurant, bookstore and permanent and temporary exhibits of paintings and sculpture.

Earth Science Museum, EARTH Building, (801) 378-3680. Guided tours. Exhibits of fossils from most geologic periods and research collections of dinosaurs and other vertebrates, especially from the Jurassic period.

Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, 290 MLBM, (801) 378-5051. Preserved and mounted examples of animals, insects, plants, and fish. Exhibits based on the life cycles of all species,education programs and children's hands-on Discovery Area.

Museum of Peoples and Cultures, 700 North 100 East, (801) 378-6112. Guided tours. Permanent and temporary exhibits tracking the anthropology of world cultures.

Salt Lake City

Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts, Liberty Park, (801) 533-5760. Our free exhibits provide a unique view of contemporary Utah through the traditional arts of our state's Indian tribes, occupational and ethnic groups, and Utahns of rural heritage. On summer evenings during July and August we present Mondays in the Park, a free concert series featuring everything from ethnic dance and music to pow-wow demonstrations and cowboy poetry by Utah performers.

Children's Museum of Utah, 840 N. 300 W., (801) 328-3383. The "Doing Place," a hands-on discovery museum for kids of all ages; houses 140 interactive exhibits including a "kids size" grocery store, Nine Mile Canyon, and Color Factory. We offer birthday party packages, arts and crafts workshops and special Saturday performances, which encompass the arts, sciences, humanities and world cultures. We also offer group rates. Come discover a playground around every corner.

Classic Cars International Auto Museum, 355 W. 700 South,(801) 322-5186, (801) 582-6883. A collection of a hundred antique, classic, and special interest autos are on display, including Pierce-Arrows, a Stutz Bearcat, and a 1906 Cadillac "Tulip" roadster. Vehicles from 1903 to 1970 are represented.

Finch Lane Gallery / Art Barn, Salt Lake City Arts Council,54 Finch Ln., (801) 596-5000. Visual, performing and literary programs, generally free to the public.

Fort Douglas Military Museum, 32 Potter St., (801) 588-5188.The museum is housed in the 1875 Quartermaster Victorian Infantry Barracks Building located at Fort Douglas which was founded in 1862 by California Volunteers to protect the Overland Mail & Telegraph lines; 1,500-volume library of military history of Utah and Fort Douglas, reading room, two cemeteries, guided tours, permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Hellenic Cultural Museum, 279 S 300 West, (801) 328-9681,(801) 484-9708, (801) 277-9237. The museum reflects the life of the early Greek immigrants, their struggles, achievements, social life, and tragedies. Displays include a mining exhibit, photographs, costumes, dolls, old letters, manuscripts, early mining tools, as well as artifacts from Greece.

Museum of Church History and Art, 45 N. West Temple St.,(801) 240-2299 office, (801) 240-3310 recorded information. Auditorium, reference library, museum store, films, puppet shows, costumed interpreters, audio-tours (English and Spanish), orientation film - all related to the history of the Mormon Church, and the works of Mormon artists, past and present.

The Price Family Holocaust Memorial includes two elements, an exhibition gallery and a memorial garden. The exhibition informs and teaches; the garden inspires and provides space for contemplation. The exhibition is presented on six panels that provide historical information on the rise of Nazism, its impact and consequences, liberation form its tyranny and the aftermath of its destruction. One of the six panels is dedicated to the story of John Price and other Salt Lake City residents whose lives were forever changed by these events.

Abstract and, at the same time, authentic in its materials and images, the garden's elements are provocative. They contain no specific or implicit references to the concentration camps, the Nazi regime or other abuses of war. Instead, the garden is a tribute to the Jewish people and their miraculous story of survival and rebirth.

The memorial is located at the I.J. and Jeanné Wagner Jewish Community Center, 2 North Medical Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84113 (across from the University Hospital). Hours vary by season. There is no entrance fee. Call for details, 801-581-0098.

Pioneer Memorial Museum, 300 N Main, (801) 538-1050. Thousands of artifacts from the late 1800's, from carriages, tools, and clothing, to dolls and toys. The stairwells between floors are filled with hundreds of paintings and photographs.

Salt Lake Art Center, 20 S. West Temple St., (801) 328-4201. Guided tours. Changing exhibits of contemporary visual arts, art workshops, performing arts, films, educational programs and art classes for children and adults.

Utah State Historical Society Museum, 300 Rio Grande,(801) 533-3500. Permanent exhibit "Utah at the Crossroads," special exhibits, lectures, book and gift shop.

Kennecott Copper Mine offers extensive displays showing mining equipment and history. The mine, the world's largest man-made excavation, is 2 ½-miles across and ¾-mile deep - so big it can be seen from outer space. Copper is the primary product but the mine also yields significant quantities of gold, silver and molybdenum.

University of Utah / Salt Lake City

Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 1530 E. South Campus Dr.,(801) 581-7049. Permanent collection of approximately 15,000 art objects representing world cultures for the past 5,000 years. Musical concerts, lectures, films, gallery talks.

Utah Museum of Natural History, Presidents Circle,200 S. 1340 East, (801) 581-4303. Paleontology exhibits include mounted skeletons of Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Camptosaurus from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, and a fossil mammal exhibit. Extensive collection of artifacts from ancient tribal cultures. Children's hands-on exhibits and art projects.

Springville

Springville Museum of Art, 126 E. 400 South, (801) 489-2727. This is Utah's first and oldest museum of art. Eleven exhibition galleries, sculpture garden, more than 25 separate exhibits mounted annually, and a permanent collection of over 1,000 works by more than 250 artists from Utah and across the nation.

Tooele

Restored Benson Grist Mill, north of Stansbury Park on state route 138, (435) 882-7678. The mill mirrors the past with a log cabin,historic buildings and equipment and a working blacksmith shop. This renovated mill was constructed by early Mormon pioneers and is listed on the National Historic Register.

Tooele County Railroad Museum, 35 N Broadway,(435) 882-2836. A steam engine, dining car, simulated mine, and children's train. Numerous exhibits of the local mining, railroading and smelting history.

Wendover

Historic Wendover Airfield, 345 Airport Apron (Take 100 East headed south off of Wendover Blvd, (435) 665-2308. Visit the most original World War II airbase in the USA. A small museum is open Monday through Saturday free of charge in the Flight Operations building. Photographs and dioramas about bomber training in Wendover including the atomic bomb group are featured.