This museum's goal is to collect historical data on central Arizona and make it relevant to today's generations. To orient visitors, the facility shows a film that connects human settlement to local geography, especially pointing out the role and use of water in each of Arizona's societies. Through dioramas, the museum explores Tempe's 19th-century settlement and then looks at the building of the Roosevelt dam and changes wrought on the state by WWII. Tours are available, along with a gift shop and library.