THE BARRY & PEGGY GOLDWATER FOUNDATION

The mission is simple: to preserve history. At a glance, the focus seems to be on photography, but the ultimate goal of the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation is to preserve history. Specifically, the history that was documented on film by the founda-tion's namesake.

Although he's best known as a U.S. senator, a public servant who dedicated his life to Arizona, Barry Goldwater might have been even more passionate about his photography. And it wasn't just a favorite pastime. He saw a greater "The present-day Navajo are leaving behind some of their traditional ways," Barry wrote in Arizona, a coffee table book published by Rand McNally in 1978. "I worked hard [on those words]," he said of the book. "But I had to keep in mind that the photographs would be far more beautiful than my words." The photographs for the book were those of another one of our legendary contributors, David Muench. Barry made this undated photograph on the Navajo Nation.

purpose. "I'm trying to record the history of my state," he said, "so that students, 25, 50, 100 years from now, can find a picture that didn't exist when I started."

In addition to being technically savvy and having a photographer's eye, Barry had access to places that were typically off-limits to most photographers, including the Apache, Hopi and Navajo nations. He was allowed into those places because of the relationships he built with the people. He respected them, they respected him, and, as a result, he was able to photograph people, places and things that, in many cases, had never been seen before.

"He saw the region - historic sites and relics and people - in terms of images," Ansel Adams wrote about his friend and colleague. "He made photographs of historical and interpretive significance, and for this we should be truly grateful. In all, Barry made more than 15,000 photographs, along with 25 miles of motion picture film. Recently, the foundation obtained the Goldwater family's collection of images, as well as the rights to additional Goldwater collections archived at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, the Hayden Library at Arizona State University and the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

Unfortunately, most of those collections are at risk - even under the best of circumstances, film deteriorates over time. What's worse, as the film slowly disintegrates, so do important pieces of Arizona history. The mortality rate of Tri-X and Kodachrome would have surely disheartened our subject, which is what prompted his granddaughter, Alison Goldwater Ross, to establish the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation. "What I'm setting out to do with the foundation is to fulfill his wishes," Alison says. "His wishes were to document Arizona and show the beauty of the landscape and the people."

In 2017, Arizona Highways began working with the foundation on this important preservation project. It was an obvious partnership. Barry Goldwater was one of the magazine's first and most important photographers. He was a contributor for decades, and his photographs are still being used today.

As you can see in this special issue, his images stand the test of time as pieces of art, but they're also snapshots of Arizona history, which is why he made them in the first place.

"It's really important that we don't let this go away forever," Alison says. "We need to save this history. That's my mission.... That's what I'm doing."

For more information on the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation, please visit www.goldwater foundation.org.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BARRY M. GOLDWATER: The Arizona Highways Collection PRESENTED BY SALT RIVER PROJECT

AN EXHIBITION FEATURING SELECTED IMAGES FROM THE SENATOR'S ARCHIVE OF MORE THAN 15,000 PHOTOGRAPHS.

"It's an immense privilege for our young museum to honor the legacy of Barry Goldwater."

- Jim Bruner, Chairman, Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West