Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting, protecting, digitizing, preserving, and showcasing the photography and motion pictures created by the late U.S. Founded in 2017 by Goldwaters grandaughter, Alison Goldwater Ross, the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation mission
Alison saw a need not only protect and preserve the over 15,000 thousands photograp
hs, negatives, slides, prints and 25 miles of movie films, but to create an online resource for people around the world. Senator and 1964 GOP Presidential Nominee Barry M. Goldwater and wife, Margaret (Peggy) Goldwater Johnson. Few people know that one of Senator Goldwater’s passions was photography. He received his first camera in 1934 from his wife, Peggy when they were newlyweds. Focusing on Native People, landscapes, and the daily life on the reservation, Goldwater captured an important era of his beloved Arizona through the lens of his camera. Throughout his political life, the Senator was able to take very personal photos of Presidents, members of Congress, heads of state, important military personnel, and celebrities who visited the Goldwater’s at their Phoenix home.
The Foundation is touring a collection of Senator Goldwater’s photographs of Native Americans and landscapes to national and international museums exhibitions. The celebrated Ansel Adams wrote; “He saw the region – historic sites and relics and people – in terms of images... [He] made photographs of historical and interpretive significance, and for this, we should be truly grateful.”
Goldwater captured time, places, and cultures that have faded irretrievably into the past. The Foundation’s goal is to create a library for historians, journalists, students, and other interested parties that offer worldwide access.
