Big Mountain – the sign for plentiful ... This symbol – a touchstone for Native American tradition – tells about the Smoki Museum's outstanding collection of prehistoric, historic and contemporary pottery, jewelry, stone artifacts, baskets, kachinas and more. By any standard, the Smoki Museum's collection is definitely Big Mountain.

The ethnographic collections include clothing, ornaments and ceremonial paraphernalia from the Sioux, Apache and Woodland Indians. A number of items in the collection were donated by Barry Goldwater, who was a member of the Smoki People. The extensive collection of baskets on display are from the local Yavapai, Apache, Pima, Tohono O'odham and Seri tribes and various California tribes. Examples of weapons on display include Apache bow and arrow sets, quivers, a Yaqui bow and arrow set and a bow case. More than 100 kachinas and numerous original ceramic vessels round out the ethnographic holdings.

The Museum's art collection includes oil and watercolor paintings, charcoal drawings and hundreds of Hopi photographs by Kate Cory. Ms. Cory decorated the Museum walls with several incredible kachina paintings.

The Smoki Museum library contains some 600 volumes, mostly on Native American prehistory and ethnography. In the library, you will find periodicals from Museum News and Pottery Southwest, among others.

The Library's holdings are listed on YAVACAT, the Yavapai Library Network. The Library is open to researchers by appointment. A copy machine is available.