David Muench: The Allure of Light exhibit coming  soon!

The David Muench Photography records

 

Cline Library Special Collections and Archives (SCA) on the campus of Northern Arizona University was thrilled to announce the arrival of the David Muench Photography Records in 2022. David Muench is one of the preeminent 20^th and 21^st  century American landscape photographers, and his collection represents over 70 years of landscape photography from around the world. David made millions of photographs during his career and today, continues to make photographs. He is an influential innovator of landscape photography; his eye and instincts have resulted in some of the most remarkable photographs of both iconic locations and those known only to a few. The gift of David’s collection significantly expands and raises awareness of SCA’s visual material holdings and complements several other remarkable 20^th and 21^st century American landscape photography collections in the department’s holdings.

 

 

David’s photography career begins in the Sierras, and as a child on pack trips with his parents, Josef Muench and Joyce Rockwood. He made his first photographs as a teenager in the late 1950s. Muench’s first published photographs were featured as front and back covers of Arizona Highways when Raymond Carlson was editor, and Muench was still in high school. There was never any question of his career path. David’s education in photography and in art — both at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY, and the Los Angeles Art Center School of Design — provided him with the formality of a degree in photography, and an understanding of the technology of the time, but he feels that his most profound learning experiences were in the field.   Nature remains his teacher. [Condensed and modified from DavidMuenchPhotography.com]

 

Though Muench was born in California and now calls Montana home, he has photographed northern Arizona extensively, from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top of the San Francisco Peaks, which hold a special place in his heart. David said he comes to the San Francisco Peaks to balance himself and center himself. He feels a spiritual connection to the Peaks. Having his archival legacy situated in one of his favorite locations is fitting.

Cline Library Special Collections and Archives staff are currently working diligently to preserve, organize, describe, and make available David’s archival legacy. As our archival team performs the work necessary to provide efficient access to David’s photographs, please consult this page for updates and news related to David Muench’s archival legacy or email special.collections@nau.edu.

• To explore materials from the David Muench Photography records which can be accessed and used onsite in Cline Library SCA’s Miriam Lemont Reading Room, please review the finding aid for the collection, available online via Arizona Archives Online. Please contact Sam Meier, SCA’s Archivist for Discovery, with any questions regarding the finding aid.
• To learn more about the work that SCA staff have done to preserve, organize, describe, and support access to the David Muench Photography records, read about the processing team’s work on SCA’s blog and in Archival Outlook, the bimonthly newsletter of the Society of American Archivists.
• To learn more about the forthcoming fall 2025 exhibit David Muench: The Allure of Light and its student curator, read an interview with SCA’s summer 2025 Elizabeth M. and P.T. Reilly Intern, Niko Bare, on SCA’s blog. Niko also provided a mid-internship update detailing what they’ve learned so far. Please contact Sam Meier, Reilly internship project manager, with any questions regarding the Reilly internship and the exhibit.