Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West
"We are not a museum of objects, but a museum of ideas." Founding Director Mike Fox captured something essential about Western Spirit when he said those words. This 43,000-square-foot building in Old Town Scottsdale houses artifacts from Kit Carson's messenger pouch to Taylor Swift's performance outfits, but the real collection is harder to catalogue: the overlapping stories of Indigenous peoples, Spanish missionaries, Mexican settlers, and American pioneers across 19 Western states, Western Canada, and Mexico. The museum opened in January 2015, but its origin reaches back to former Scottsdale mayor Herb Drinkwater, who served from 1980 to 1996 and dreamed of a place where, as the museum's tagline puts it, "the Old West meets the New West."
A Building That Breathes the Desert
Architects Christiana Moss and Christopher Alt of Studio MA designed a structure that doesn't just sit in the Sonoran Desert but participates in it. The concrete ribbing on the exterior mimics the ribs of a saguaro cactus, casting passive vertical shade that reduces cooling costs. The "weeping wall" in the courtyard collects rainwater and recycles every drop of condensation from the air conditioning system, channeling it into the landscaping. Decorative patterns designed to age naturally over time echo Western saddles and leather tooling. Western red cedar throughout the lobby brings the fragrance of high-country forests into the Arizona heat. The building earned LEED Gold certification for its sustainable design. As Moss explains the spiral layout: "The upper galleries represent the New West, shading and protecting the lower galleries, which represent the history and stories of the Old West." Visitors wander and discover their own paths, exploring with what she calls "a pioneering spirit."
Treasures of the Trail
The ongoing exhibition "Courage and Crossroads" displays some of the American West's most significant artifacts. A presentation-style pipe tomahawk given to Meriwether Lewis during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Kit Carson's actual messenger pouch. Over 100 paintings and sculptures by artists ranging from Thomas Moran and Alfred Jacob Miller to Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. The Taos Founders are represented alongside contemporary Western artists. The A.P. Hays Spirit of the West Collection presents 1,400 Old West items, many exceedingly rare, from working cowboy gear to outlaw relics. Themes include Wild West Shows, Western movies, rodeos, saloons, and even Western gear made in prisons. Each object tells a story; together, they map a region's soul.
Six Centuries of Hopi Clay
The Allan and Judith Cooke Collection anchors one of the museum's most remarkable permanent exhibitions: over 65 masterworks of Hopi pottery spanning six centuries. An interactive video demonstrates the creation process that transforms desert clay into vessels of extraordinary beauty. Eighteen pieces come from Nampeyo, the most famous of Hopi potters, whose revival of traditional Sikyatki designs in the late 1800s launched a pottery renaissance that continues through her descendants. Works by 22 additional master potters reveal the evolution of an art form that predates European contact. Western Spirit recently acquired 72 additional pieces from the Cooke Collection, ensuring these treasures rotate through the gallery for years to come.
The West on Screen
Dr. Rennard Strickland spent 50 years amassing over 7,000 Western and Indian movie posters, lobby cards, and graphic arts. His collection now lives at Western Spirit, a visual history of how Hollywood shaped and sometimes distorted America's understanding of the West. The posters reveal changing attitudes: noble savages give way to nuanced portrayals; cowboys evolve from simple heroes to complex antiheroes. Both Arizona State University Foundation and Western Spirit serve as stewards of this collection of national and international importance. Combined with the Edward S. Curtis exhibition featuring over 900 photographs of Indigenous peoples taken between 1900 and 1930, the museum offers a rare opportunity to see how the West was documented and imagined across different eras and media.
Where Artists Still Roam
True West Magazine has named Western Spirit "The Nation's Best Western Museum" every year from 2016 through 2021. The recognition reflects not just the permanent collection but the ambitious rotating exhibitions: Maynard Dixon's American West, Charles M. Russell, the Taos Society of Artists, Arizona art pioneers. The 135-seat Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Theater hosts performances and presentations. The Christine and Ted Mollring Sculpture Courtyard displays bronzes by contemporary masters like John Coleman. As a Smithsonian Affiliate since 2015, Western Spirit brings traveling exhibitions of national caliber to the Southwest. The museum store, voted "Best Place to Get AZ Stuff" by Phoenix Magazine, sends visitors home with pottery, jewelry, and books celebrating the Western lifestyle.
From the Air
Western Spirit sits at 33.4924N, 111.9285W in Old Town Scottsdale, approximately 6 nautical miles northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor (KPHX) and 3 nm south of Scottsdale Airport (KSDL). From the air, Old Town Scottsdale appears as a low-rise district of galleries and shops amid the Phoenix metropolitan sprawl. The museum's sustainable design features are not visible from altitude, but the distinct grid of Old Town against the McDowell Mountains to the north provides an excellent visual reference at 3,000-4,000 feet AGL.