John E. Dunn photographs, 1900-1919

Custodial History

The items in Series I (Dunn Family) and Series II (Missoula and Surrounding Areas) were in the possession of the Dunn family until donation to the Archives. The Photograph Committee of the Friends of the Library assisted with the acquisition. There is no available documentation about how or when the photograph albums in Series III arrived at the Archives although some images duplicate those in the first two series.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Marion R. Dunn and Evelyn B. Ririe, 1987.

Processing Note

Original processing of the materials in this collection placed the negatives and copy prints into the Archives general photograph collection. During 2003 reprocessing staff reorganized all materials into two series as a reflection of content, removed original negatives from the general collection and housed them in separate boxes, and created a collection finding aid. New reference numbers were applied to all negatives and corresponding copy prints to establish manuscript collection association and reflect series organization. Original general photograph collection numbers were retained for cross-reference. Several image descriptions were augmented during 2003 reprocessing for instances in which existing descriptions were either insufficient or of dubious accuracy. These added notes were placed within brackets to distinguish them from original information. In 2009 two photograph albums, with some images duplicating those in Series I and II of this collection, were transferred from the Archives' general photograph album collection into this collection, where they belong by provenance and content. In 2021, two additional photograph albums were added to Series III. Like the 2009 transfer, these albums duplicate some of the images from Series I and II and were moved from the Archive's general photo collection.

The original image descriptions use the names Jack and John to refer to the collection creator. This practice creates potential for confusion as one of the Dunn children was also named Jack. In such instances the original descriptions were retained but "[John]" (in brackets) was added to image descriptions of the elder Dunn.