Future Focused

Photographer Benn Mitchell started early. He received his first camera at age 13 and sold his first picture to Life magazine just a few years later, of his younger brother perched on a block of ice and eating ice cream during a heat wave. “He got $25,” his wife, Esther Mitchell, says. “From that point on, he was always looking for the next picture.” 

By the time he turned 18, Mitchell was in Hollywood photographing stars like Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe. After two years as a U.S. Navy photographer, he returned to New York City, where he and Esther operated a successful commercial studio. His work there included vivid New York street scenes and images of American Indian culture. 

“Benn had the patience to wait for the right day, the right light and the right moment for the perfect picture,” Esther Mitchell says. “He could spend hours — sometimes all night — in the darkroom making sure the print matched the image he envisioned.” 

Now, Mitchell’s archive is at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography alongside a million-dollar gift from Esther Mitchell to establish the Benn and Esther Mitchell Endowed Collection Fund. 

“Benn always said that all the money he made from photography should go back into the arts,” she says. “That was his only career, and he wanted it to support others. This donation makes sure that wish will be carried out, now and in the future.” 

In addition to Mitchell’s photographs, the copyrights for which will be transferred to the CCP for use in scholarship and education, the archive includes prints, clippings, publications featuring Mitchell’s work and some of his photographic equipment. The endowment, meanwhile, will support paid student internships, collections care, shelving, archival boxing and other expenses required to preserve the archive. 

“The Center for Creative Photography is the ideal home for Benn Mitchell’s archive, and we are extremely grateful to Esther Mitchell for choosing the CCP to be the steward of Benn’s legacy,” says CCP Director Todd Tubutis. “Esther understands the critical importance of collections care, and her endowment gift will help ensure we are able to maintain best practices in preserving our collection and making it accessible to everyone.” 

“When I started looking for the right home for Benn’s work, I learned about the Center for Creative Photography and the strong reputation they have for preserving archives,” Esther Mitchell says. “They don’t just store photographs. They study them, teach with them and share them with the public. That combination really made me feel it was the right place.”