(May 26, 2025) — As a celebration of the upcoming 2026 centennial of the Dude Ranchers’ Association, a commemorative book project is underway in collaboration with the DRA, Ranch Preservation Foundation and the Dude Ranch Foundation. The photo-driven, coffee table book will be titled 100 Years of Dude Ranching: Celebrating the Centennial of the Dude Ranchers’ Association and will feature the “Centennial Ranches” that were accepting guests in 1926 and are still in operation today as members of the DRA.
The book will include large-scale modern photographs of the over 25 Centennial Ranches that will be captured by professional photographer Scott T. Baxter. Baxter and his team are winding up a one year tour around the West to photograph the Centennial Ranches capturing the unique landscapes, people and architecture that are found at the ranches today.
Baxter’s fine art photography work of the American West is in numerous museums and private collections. In 2012, he completed 100 Years 100 Ranchers, an official Legacy Project for the Arizona Centennial featuring 100 families who had been ranching in the state for 100 years.
Upon his return to his hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, Baxter will process and develop images to be selected for usage in the book, as well as for a planned traveling art exhibition featuring his fine art portraits and other prints from the project.
In addition to historic features on each of the Centennial Ranches, the book will include a history of the DRA and dude ranching contributed by Lynn Downey, historian and award-winning author of American Dude Ranch: A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West, and member of the Dude Ranch Foundation board of directors. It will also include a section with all current DRA member ranches across the U.S. and Canada.
Proceeds from the book’s sales will be donated to the Dude Ranch Foundation for its non-profit work in the dude ranching industry.
About Ranch Preservation Foundation
Ranch Preservation Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit founded to promote the protection, restoration and preservation of historic western ranches and related projects. The foundation honors the storied histories of each unique property to maintain the connection to the past and history of dude ranching. Current projects include work with the O.T.O. Dude Ranch, Montana’s first dude ranch and Rancho de la Osa, one of the most historic ranches in Arizona.
