WWU exhibit features photographs by Wallie Funk

Heritage Resources at Western Washington University Libraries will open an exhibit of images from the archival collection of journalist and photographer Wallie V. Funk on Monday, Jan. 4, in the Special Collections space on the sixth floor of Wilson Library.

Funk’s four-decade career as photographer, journalist and former co-owner and editor of the Anacortes American, Whidbey News-Times and the South Whidbey Record, recorded key events, regionally, nationally and around the world. Funk, who started his collection in 1950 after buying the Anacortes American, had a mission to preserve history through the nearly 50,000 photographs that he took during his successful and prolific career.

A digital selection of Funk’s work, housed at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, includes images of U.S. politicians and presidents, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and George Wallace; the Penn Cove whale capture of 1970; the Mount St. Helens eruption; the 1964 Democratic National Convention; and the Rolling Stones and Beatles in concert.

A panel presentation, “When Local Becomes National: The Legacy and Impact of Pacific Northwest Photojournalist Wallie V. Funk,” will explore the impact of Funk’s work in a free presentation at 4 p.m. Feb. 2 in Special Collections.

In retirement, Funk continued to write articles through 2001 and take photographs until 2002. He lives near Anacortes.

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 4:01 PM with the headline "WWU exhibit features photographs by Wallie Funk."