On the southwest corner at the intersection between Southern Avenue and Rural Road, tall silver letters face the road, spelling “MUSEUM.” These letters belong to the Tempe History Museum, a community establishment dedicated to Tempe’s history.
This Thursday for free at the museum, Nancy Hormann, executive director for Downtown Tempe Community, will be speaking about a topic especially relevant to ASU students: the future of Mill Avenue. Her lecture will cover art on Mill, music and architecture plans.
On the museum’s website, a video explaining the museum's mission and vision features Dan Miller, the exhibits coordinator, who explains its value.
“The Tempe History Museum is a community history museum, and what that means is we tell the stories of the people within this community," he said. "And it’s a pretty exciting community. It always has been.”
From the Hohokam who built canals and made Tempe into a more livable area, to the modern, mixed culture, Miller stresses Tempe’s diversity.
“Tempe is a cool place to live; it’s got a little bit of different personality, and I think a lot of that is the people from around the world that end up living here," he said. "The diversity ends up being reflected right in our museum."
Admission is free. To make a visit more compelling, the Museum hosts special events, such as “Third Thursdays at the Museum.”
As the name suggests, every third Thursday of the month, a guest lecturer is brought in to the museum to discuss Tempe’s past, present and future. Last month, for instance, Christine Wilkinson from ASU spoke about investing in future leaders and solutions, while Greg Esser from ASU spoke about the future of art events back in November.
"The museum staff thought this series would be a good way to get at that ‘imagine the future’ aspect in the museum’s vision statement," Miller said in an email.
This approach for the future brings Hormann from the Downtown Tempe Community to the museum this Thursday. Her lecture will provide insight on the local arts and businesses around Mill Avenue.
Reach the reporter at jconigli@asu.edu
