| Description |
| For nearly 75 years, the Heard Museum has been a Phoenix landmark, a place where visitors from across the globe come to learn about the region's Native cultures and art. With every exhibit the Heard presents, education plays a major role throughout the planning process. Unlike many museums that show "objects on a shelf," the Heard strives to present voices and perceptions of the people who made the work on display, and Native American consultants play a vital role in the development of every exhibition.With its latest expansion in 1999, the Heard Museum encompasses 130,000 square feet of galleries, classrooms and performance spaces. That's more than eight times the size of the original structure built in 1929 to house the personal collections of Phoenix residents Dwight and Maie Heard.Dwight Bancroft Heard moved to Chicago from Wayland, Mass., shortly after high school. He began working at Hibbard, Spencer and Bartlett Company, one of the biggest wholesale hardware companies in the country and the precursor of True-Value Hardware Stores. While there, Dwight Heard was a protégé of Adolphus Bartlett and subsequently met Bartlett's daughter, Maie Bartlett. In 1893, Dwight Heard and Maie Bartlett were married. Just one year later, the couple headed for a warmer, dryer climate after Dwight was diagnosed with lung ailments. After traveling throughout the Southwest, the young couple settled in Phoenix in 1895.
|
|
