Exhibit Overview

This exhibit explores stories found in Joshua Tree National Park's museum collections. Situated at the convergence of the Colorado and Mojave deserts, the park supports diverse plants and animals adapted to the extreme temperatures and lack of water. Weather ranges from blustery cold winds, freezing temperatures and snow, to bone-dry temperatures over 100°F, punctuated by torrential rain and flash floods.

The park has a rich cultural history, including native communities who thrived here for millennia, well before the cattlemen, miners, and homesteaders first arrived in the late 19th century. Today, they are joined by new waves of artists, musicians, and visitors drawn to the stunning beauty of the desert.

Joshua Tree National Park acknowledges the Serrano, Cahuilla, Mohave, and Chemehuevi people as the original stewards of the land on which the park now sits. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the Indigenous people in this place. We pay our respects to the people past, present, and emerging who have been here since time immemorial.