Barry M. Goldwater Fine Arts Photograph Collection

Barry M. Goldwater's interest in photography began in 1934 when his wife Peggy gave him a 2¼ inch redflex camera for Christmas. The Goldwater family had been in Arizona since the mid 19th century and had established themselves as both businessmen and devoted civil servants. Barry Goldwater's interest in the people and places of Arizona ran deep and he decided to build his own historical record of the state. He carried a camera with him everywhere he went and took 15,000 photographs (over 25 miles of film) over the next 30 years.

Instructed by local photographer Tom Bate and inspired by Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, Goldwater developed a talent for photography that would be recognized worldwide. Since 1935, his photographs have been featured in approximately 250 shows. He was admitted as an associate member of the Royal Photographic Society and was a lifetime member of the Photographic Society of America. Goldwater frequently contributed to Arizona Highways and published over ten books featuring his photographs, including Arizona Portraits (1940), The Face of Arizona (1964), and Delightful Journey (1970).

My photography has taken me over, literally, every mile of the southwest, over both poles and every major country on the globe. But it is to Arizona that I turn for my inspiration and what I think has been my best work. It is my desire to share with future generations the Southwest that I love. Barry M. Goldwater, Barry Goldwater and the Southwest (1976).