The NAU Foundation is celebrating one of the largest gifts in the university’s history—the David Muench Photography Records. David Muench, a preeminent 20th and 21st-century landscape and nature photographer, gifted his collection spanning over 70 years of photography from around the world, to NAU Cline Library’s Special Collections and Archives.
“This contribution is a testament to NAU’s historic dedication to enriching lives through high-quality learning experiences,” Chief Executive Officer of the NAU Foundation Nick Lobejko said. “The NAU Foundation is proud to steward this transformative gift and the impact it has to connect the community to the stunning landscape and culture of the Colorado Plateau and beyond.”
Dean and University Librarian, Cynthia Childrey noted, “Cline Library is honored to be the home of David’s archival legacy. The artistic, cultural, historical, and environmental value of David’s work will inspire students, faculty, photographers, and the general research community for years to come.”
Muench’s archival legacy is a magnificent addition to Cline Library Special Collections and Archives’ visual materials holdings. Over the past three decades, Special Collections and Archives has become a locus of prominent American photographers. David’s work joins other outstanding collections including his father Josef Muench, Tad Nichols, Emery Kolb, Bill Belknap, John Running, and Sue Bennett.
David’s unique approach and perspective to photography will certainly serve as an inspiration to students, photographers, and the boarder research community. “I hope my work and way of seeing will inspire students to be creative in their response to the world around them,” Muench said. “Because landscape photographers instinctively connect their inner sensibilities and feelings with the rhythms and visual shapes and forms of nature, I can imagine my images serving as a kind of communication with other photographers.”
You can make a difference in the lives of Lumberjacks by donating to the NAU Foundation’s Special Collections and Archives Fund. Your gift will help support the preservation and future access to the David Muench Photography Records. For more information about David Muench’s archival legacy, visit the David Muench story on the NAU Review website.
Exhibition opening
David Muench: The Allure of Light archival legacy is now available at Cline Library’s Special Collections and Archives.
