Arizona History Museum — Attraction in Tucson

My review is from the perspective of a Bride who had her Wedding at this Museum. The Museum markets itself as a Wedding venue on their website. I selected this location as my Wedding Venue in February. I had over 10 meetings with the Event Manager, Tamara McElwee from February to September. All those meetings were initiated by me because Tamara never reached out to me about anything. I was always the one initiating communication, verification on details relating to the contract and details relating to the planning regarding set up and coordination with caterers etc. Throughout the year Tamara assured me and my husband that she would be present the day of our Wedding to coordinate and help the caters, bartender and cake-person set up and direct them on what to do. However, a week before the Wedding Tamara told us she wouldn't be present on our Wedding day because she had a body building competition to go to. Apparently, her passion is in body building and not doing her actual job which is Event Coordination. I asked her several times if there would be someone at the Museum to replace her role on the day of our Wedding and she couldn't provide me with a name for who I was supposed to contact for help. I didn't know who her replacement was until the day before the Wedding. So, the day before the Wedding I had to review all the planning/organizational information to this new person, named Peter Mueller-Martin. Peter did not have all the details I had been discussing with Tamara over the course of 8 months. I had to argue with him over little things like, how he wanted to set up chairs for the ceremony and I was like, "um, no, I already discussed this with tamara and she said the chairs would be set up this way for the ceremony." So, he was being quite pushy on the day of the wedding ---like he wanted things set up HIS WAY even though all those details were already planned. Tamara was inconsistent with the information she would tell me in-person vs. information she would send me in emails. For example, since February she has told me the Museum would provide 60 inch round tables and chairs for the Reception. I took detailed notes during EVERY meeting and I verified the size of the tables through email. Tamara confirmed the 60 inch table size in writing, in an email. I still have all the emails we wrote to one another. In March I purchased 12 round tablecloths for 60 inch tables; 12 overlays for 60 inch tables. The day before the wedding, Peter had set up the tables and they were not 60 inches. They were 90 inches !! So the table cloths I purchased months ago did not fit properly on these much larger tables. Three weeks before the Wedding our caterer joined me in a meeting with Tamara and the caterer remembers Tamara saying the tables are 60 inches. However, Tamara denies giving me incorrect information and basically called me a liar. However, I was never alone with Tamara. My fiancee, mother and/or sister was always with me and they also remember her saying 60 inch tables. I found Tamara to be extremely unprofessional, rude, defensive and aloof. She did not care at all about making my Wedding a priority. In fact, my Wedding was an afterthought for Tamara. She did the bare minimum and then became defensive every time I expressed a concern to her. She acted as though she went above and beyond for me when all she did was fulfill the agreement in the contract. You aren't going above and beyond if you're are just following the contract. On the day of the Wedding, my Bridal "quarters" were in a conference room. This room was where me and my bridesmaids would change/get ready. In the middle of me changing -putting on my wedding dress --Peter barges into the room, unannounced, (did not knock) and starts grabbing chairs, going in and out of the room. One of my Bridesmaids shouted at him "UM, HELLO, THERE ARE WOMEN DRESSING IN HERE !" Peter totally ignored her and kept moving chairs out. It was very STRANGE and CREEPY and just RUDE. Yeah, if I could do it all over again, I would definitely choose a different...

I am a very big fan of museums and an even bigger fan of history, so this spot is right up my alley. Having been multiple times in the last few years, I have enjoyed the various exhibits to explore each time. There is a good balance of text to objects & images (though there is quite a bit of reading to do throughout the exhibits). The historical society does a great job of branching out to various topics of AZ history, though the mining exhibit notably stands out. The exhibits are kid-friendly for the most part, though some spots can get wordy. I would like to see more touch-interactive spaces; even just flaps over the answers to true/false questions would be a great start. Overall, I would highly recommend taking multiple trips to focus on specific histories, though this is a great place to take it all in without getting...

Pros: Very educational and enjoyable for all ages, everything is kid friendly, even adults can easily enjoy the most kid-focused area, touches on a wide range of Arizona history, cool immersive sets, good value Cons: you will have to park and walk a bit

Fantastic museum! I highly recommend! There are so many cool things here: Santa Ana's uniform, finely crafted Spanish silver, Native American history and culture, immigrant culture, early life in Arizona, mining, gemstones/minerals, early history of Arizona as a state, vehicles (a stagecoach, chuckwagon, Studebaker), and some really depressing art on people who've died crossing the Mexico/US boarder. They also have a cool little gift shop.

This museum perfectly encapsulates the history of Arizona in pretty much all its aspects; one of the best museums I've...