If you're headed to explore the Arizona Room at Burton Barr Library, we recommend you block out an afternoon (or two). The small cove inside the massive library in downtown Phoenix serves as a bank of local knowledge and history. The collection features maps, books, magazines, and newspaper clippings that explain Southwest culture — past and present. Be prepared to brush up on your local trivia, including facts and figures in art, the military, archaeology, transportation, environment, tourism, culture, and resources.
Among the Arizona Room collection's highlights: Phoenix aerial surveys taken as early as 1968, more than 1,200 biographies, correspondence from newspapermen and Rough Rider James H. McClintock, telephone directories, high school yearbooks, census data, Fort Verde records, Arizona Territory Interior Department appointment papers, Sanborn maps, and a vertical file of endless information stored in the back by subject and name. Told you you're going to need some time.