Shutter Mike Photography

The University of Arizona has a strong connection with photography.  It is home to the Center for Creative Photography started by Ansel Adams and houses a collection of prints and photography related materials in its archives unmatched by almost anyone else.  Now, in an effort to preserve the works of photographers and make them available  online “…to increase access to unique and rare material…,” the U of A’s Special Collections is digitizing thousands of photographs.

The most recent collection to be digitized and made available to the public is the Jack Sheaffer Photograph Digital Collection.  Consisting of more than 10,000 photographs spanning the period from 1955 to 1975 the images document the growth of Tucson, AZ and Southern Arizona during this period.

Sheaffer photographed tragic accidents, civil rights and anti-war marches, politicians, athletic events, celebrity visits and local beauty pageants, and the collection is continually growing.

This collection is a valuable resource for its documentation of Southern Arizona history.  But it is also cool to just browse the vast collection of images.