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Wallie V. Funk photographs and papers, 1890-2004

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Funk, Wallie V., 1922-2017
Title
Wallie V. Funk photographs and papers
Dates
1890-2004 (inclusive)
1940-1990 (bulk)
Quantity
28 Linear Ft., ( )
Collection Number
XOE_CPNWS0041funk (collection)
Summary
The Wallie V. Funk photographs and papers contain photographs, negatives, newspaper articles, proof sheets, mock-ups, and textual materials documenting the personal and professional life of Pacific Northwest resident, journalist, and photographer, Wallie V. Funk. Funk co-owned and was managing editor of three independent newspapers: the Anacortes American, the Whidbey News-Times, and the South Whidbey Record, between 1950 and 1989. The bulk of the collection reflects Funk's professional career and civic involvement.
Repository
Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Archives Building
808 25th St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
Telephone: (360) 650-7534
cpnws@wwu.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for preparing this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Funding for encoding the finding aid was awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

A lifelong resident of Island and Skagit counties, Wallie Valentine Funk had a successful and prolific career in journalism and photography that spanned more than four decades. During that time, Funk co-owned, managed, edited, and published three independent newspapers: the Anacortes American, the Whidbey News-Times, and the South Whidbey Record. Funk was also a civic leader whose personal interests mirrored the broad range of his professional interests. His writings and photographs chronicle and preserve key events happening during his career. Funk extensively traveled the world, documenting his experiences through tens of thousands of photographs, negatives, textual materials, and memorabilia.

Funk’s grandparents, Valentine Funk (1863-1956) and Barbara (Miltenberger) Funk (1856-1947) were German immigrants to the United States who settled in Anacortes, Washington in 1890. They prospered in both business ventures and real estate. One of their holdings included the historic Wilson Hotel, a three story brick icon in Anacortes. Funk’s grandparents had two children, Wallie V. Funk, Sr. (1892-1955) and Louise Mackin (1903-1996). After serving in the U.S. Army during World War I, Wallie V. Funk, Sr. followed in his father’s footsteps in business and investments in the Anacortes area. He courted and married local school teacher, Irene Brown (1896-1996), in 1921. Their union produced Wallie V. Funk (b. 1922), James (b. 1927), and Charles (1927-1987).

Wallie V. Funk graduated from Anacortes High School in 1941, but his university education was interrupted by his military service during World War II. However, he subsequently graduated from the University of Washington, majoring in journalism, in 1948. Funk served as President of his graduating class and received four honoraries, including one for journalism. After obtaining his university education, Funk vacationed in Europe for seven months. In 1950 he, along with his personal friend and fellow U.W. student John Webber, purchased the Anacortes American newspaper. In 1954, Funk married Mary Ann Ringwell (b. 1926), also a local schoolteacher. They had two sons, Mark (b.1955) and Carl (b. 1957). After selling the Anacortes American in 1964, Funk and Weber purchased the Whidbey News-Times and the South Whidbey Record on Whidbey Island. They jointly owned, published, and operated these newspapers until 1989.

Funks’ first editorial in the Anacortes American was a front page plea to his fellow citizens for help in preserving local history. He asked that old photographs be brought to the American for publication. This was the beginning of both a seven year local project and of Funk’s massive history collection. In 1954, he added significantly to his personal archives. Ferd Brady, a well-known and respected local photographer, retired after a twenty five year career in Anacortes. Brady loaded a truck full of negatives for a one way trip to the local dump. Funk quickly offered Brady twenty five dollars for the lot, and Brady agreed.

Funk’s personal photographic efforts are prolific. The images he captured in his candid camera are eclectic. Just a small sampling includes six U.S. Presidents, Orca Whales, a varied array of sporting events, landscapes, high school graduations, military events, performing arts productions, and birthing room photos of the 1967 Whidbey Naval Air Station New Year’s baby.

Funk’s activity in his community included a wide range of interests. A complete list of civic organizations in which he was involved is too lengthy for this note, however, a short list includes: the Navy League (Oak Harbor Council President, Washington State President and National Director), the Washington State Newspaper Publishers Association, Washington State Trade Delegations (China in 1980, the Middle East in 1983, and Thailand in 1985), the Washington State Arts Commission, the Anacortes Community Theater, the Whidbey Playhouse, Skagit County Pioneer Association, the Museum of Northwest Art, and the Anacortes Museum.

In his retirement, Funk continued to document the history of his community, writing articles through 2001, and taking photographs up until 2002. Wallie V. Funk presently lives near Anacortes on Fidalgo Island.

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Content Description

The Wallie V. Funk photographs and papers are primarily composed of the nearly 50,000 photographic images taken by Funk during his successful and prolific career in journalism and photography, spanning four decades. Funk co-owned and was managing editor of three independent newspapers between 1950 and 1989: the Anacortes American, the Whidbey News-Times, and the South Whidbey Record. The collection is arranged in two series, Personal and Family Papers, 1919-2002, and Professional Papers, 1890-2004. The bulk of the collection reflects Funk’s professional career and his civic involvements.

The photographs and negatives contain images of people, places, events, and the environment of Whidbey Island, Skagit County, and Island County in Washington State. Other collection images taken by Funk reflect political events in Washington, D.C., his travels with the Washington State Trade Delegations (China in 1980, the Middle East in 1983, Thailand in 1985) and trips to Europe. Additionally, the collection contains a diverse and sizable selection of textual materials, including newspaper articles, images, and Funk’s editorials. Much of this latter material enhances Funk’s photographic efforts.

Funk’s photograph collection covers a wide range of subject matter, including candid images of six U.S. Presidents (Carter, Ford, Kennedy, Lynden Johnson, Nixon and Reagan), rock groups The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, captured Orca Whales, high school and professional sporting events, flora and fauna, military events, and performing arts productions.

Civic events and organizations well documented in the collection by photographs and textual materials include, but are not limited to, the Navy League, Whidbey Playhouse, the Washington State Arts Commission, and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Wallie V. Funk photographs and papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA 98225-9123.

Alternative Forms Available

Select images from this collection of Wallie V. Funk's photographs and papers have been digitized and can be accessed online as part of Western Libraries' Digital collections. See: https://mabel.wwu.edu/islandora/object/wwu%3A8721.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Wallie V. Funk photographs and papers are organized in accordance with the following series and subseries arrangement:

  • Series I: Personal and Family papers, 1919-2002
    • Sub-series 1: Photographs, 1922-2002
    • Sub-series 2: Textual Materials, 1919-2002 (1941-2002)
  • Series II: Professional papers, 1890-2004 (1960-1990)
    • Sub-series 1: Photographs and Negatives, 1923-2002 (1960-1990)
    • Sub-series 2: Proof Sheets from the Whidbey News-Times, 1966-1987 (1970-1986)
    • Sub-series 3: Mock-ups from the Whidbey News-Times, , 1974-1987
    • Sub-series 4: Textual Materials, 1890-2001 (1961-2001)
    • Sub-series 5: Newspaper Articles, 1917-2004 (1970-1983)

Custodial History

Wallie V. Funk donated the materials in his collection to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in June 2003.

Processing Note

Theresa L. Trebon of Continuum History and Research carried out the initial organization and identification of the collection and facilitated its donation to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in 2003. Jamie Cartwright and Virginia Walkowski continued the arrangement of the photographs and negatives, and re-housed the materials into acid-free containers. Amber Raney created the finding aid and arranged the textual materials, newspaper articles, proof sheets, negatives, oversized photographs, and mock-ups, with assistance from Tom Petruzzi.

Processing Note

About Harmful Language and Content

To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following Statement About Potentially Harmful Language and Content

Separated Materials

Other photographic and textual materials donated by Wallie V. Funk are located at the Anacortes Museum in Anacortes, Washington, the Island County Historical Museum in Coupeville, Washington, and the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington.

Bibliography

Trebon, Theresa L. First Views: An Early History of Skagit County, 1850-1899 ( Mount Vernon, Washington : Skagit Valley Herald, 2002).

Trebon, Theresa L. Wallie V. Funk Timeline ( Sedro Wooley, WA : Continuum History and Research, 2004).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Community leadership -- Washington (State) -- Island County -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.
  • Community life -- Washington (State) -- Island County -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.
  • Community life -- Washington (State) -- Oak Harbor -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.
  • Community life -- Washington (State) -- Skagit County -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.
  • Community life -- Washington (State) -- Whidbey Island -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.
  • Newspaper publishing -- Washington (State) -- History -- Sources.
  • Newspapers -- History -- Sources.
  • Politicians -- United States -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.
  • Politicians -- Washington (State) -- History -- Sources -- Photographs.

Personal Names

  • Brady, Ferdinand.
  • Carter, Jimmy, 1924- -- Photographs.
  • Funk, Wallie V., 1922-2017 -- Archives. (creator)
  • Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973 -- Photographs.
  • Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Photographs.
  • Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994 -- Photographs.
  • Reagan, Ronald, 1911-2004 -- Photographs.
  • Webber, John G.

Corporate Names

  • Beatles -- Photographs.
  • Navy League of the United States -- Photographs.
  • Rolling Stones -- Photographs.
  • Washington State Arts Commission -- Photographs.
  • Washington State Press Association -- Photographs.
  • Whidbey Playhouse -- Photographs.

Geographical Names

  • Anacortes (Wash.) -- History -- Photographs.
  • Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (Wash.) -- Photographs.
  • Oak Harbor (Wash.) -- History -- Photographs.
  • Washington (State) -- Commerce -- China -- History -- Photographs.
  • Washington (State) -- Commerce -- Middle East -- History -- Photographs.
  • Washington (State) -- Commerce -- Thailand -- History -- Photographs.
  • Whidbey Island (Wash.) -- History -- Photographs.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photographs
  • Records (Documents)

Titles within the Collection

  • Anacortes American -- History -- Sources.
  • South Whidbey Record -- History -- Sources.
  • Whidbey News-Times -- History -- Sources.

Finding aid created by the staff of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
2004

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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