SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. The name "Amerind," a contraction of American Indian, illustrates the purpose of this Foundation, which is devoted to the study of Native American cultures. Located an hour's drive from Tucson in the rural and beautiful southeastern corner of Arizona, the research facility and museum focus on American Indian history. Here you can view some of the country's finest Native American ethnographic and archaeological collections. The permanent collection includes tens of thousands of objects from the Arctic and the Americas. Picnic areas and a gift shop are on the premises.

DOWNTOWN. The Arizona Historical Society's museum adjacent to the University of Arizona campus offers information about the development of Arizona from the first arrival of Europeans in 1540 through the times under Spain and Mexico, to territorial Arizona in the 1800s and beyond. Branch museums at Fort Lowell on the east side, and at the Sosa-Carillo-Fremont House in the Convention Center complex give looks at military and civilian life during the Mexican and territorial periods.

DOWNTOWN. Since 1893, the Arizona State Museum has been collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting the cultures of the Greater Southwest, including Arizona and northern Mexico. It is the oldest and largest anthropological museum in the region, was one of the very first departments at the University of Arizona, and houses absolutely vast collections of pottery, textiles, photographs and documents ­ only a fraction of which can be displayed at any given time. Fans of the history, anthropology and Native American culture will be in awe.

AIRPORT. Aviation buffs, this one's for you. The Museum opened to the public in May, 1976, with 75 aircraft on display. Since then the collection has grown to over 250 aircraft occupying 80 acres of land. The entire museum property covers about 150 acres. One plane of interest is the Lockheed Tristar, used by John Kennedy as Air Force One on short flights or flights to small airports. This museum also operates the Titan Missile Museum. Package admissions to both sites are available.

DOWNTOWN. The remarkable collection at this campus library/museum includes multiple titles for most of the major poets of the 20th century: Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore and numerous others. The Poetry Center also holds photographs, records, audiotapes, and CDs, videos, periodicals and ephemera. All told, there are over 30,000 items in its collections, many of which are exhibited for the public and others that are available only for research through its library. The center hosts a full schedule of readings throughout the year.