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Paul M. Dunn Papers, 1916-1988

Collection Overview

Title: Paul M. Dunn Papers, 1916-1988

ID: MSS Dunn

Primary Creator: Dunn, Paul M.

Extent: 2.1 cubic feet

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Dunn Papers document the professional activities of Paul M. Dunn, Dean of Forestry at Oregon State College from 1942 to 1955.

Scope and Content Notes

The Paul M. Dunn Papers include two scrapbooks; correspondence received from friends and colleagues; awards, certificates, plaques, diplomas, and medallions; his master's thesis; photographs; and materials pertaining to his work in Missouri and in Chile.

The scrapbooks include b/w and color photographs as well as clippings and memorabilia documenting Paul Dunn's professional activities and his family. Notable items include photographs of the Paul M. Dunn Demonstration Forest owned by St. Regis Paper Company near Pensacola Florida; groundbreaking for the Western Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon in 1969; a 1946 photograph of the Corvallis Rotary Club at the Oregon coast showing many OSC faculty and alumni including Paul Petri, Fred Shideler, Ralph Coleman, Slats Gill, and E.E. Wilson; and 1980 newspaper clippings about Donna Byrne, the first woman to receive the Paul M. Dunn Award presented to the top senior in the OSU College of Forestry.

The correspondence consists primarily of congratulatory letters received at the time Dunn was appointed to new positions or received awards. Of particular note are letters from Oregon State College faculty and administrators, including former Dean of Forestry George W. Peavy, sent at the time of his appointment as Dean of Forestry at Oregon State College in 1942.

The photographs include images of Dunn; his wife, Neva K. Dunn; groups at conferences and meetings; and Dunn with forestry students in Chile. Of especial note is a 1949 image of George W. Peavy with Dunn.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Paul M. Dunn served as Dean of Forestry at Oregon State College from 1942 until 1955, when he joined the St. Regis Paper Company. Dunn was instrumental in obtaining the 6200-acre Adair Tract for teaching and research and it was subsequently named the Paul M. Dunn Research Forest in his honor. In 1952-53, Dunn assisted in establishing a school of forest engineering at the University of Chile.

Dunn was born 15 October 1898 in Lennox, South Dakota. He earned BS and MSF degrees in forestry from Iowa State College in 1923 and 1933. From 1926 until 1931, he was associate state forester in Missouri. Dunn became a forestry professor at Utah State College in 1931 and in 1938 became the first Dean of Forestry at that institution, a position he held until 1942. Dunn retired from St. Regis in 1968 and returned to Corvallis where he lived until his death on 8 January 1988.

Dunn received the Iowa State University Alumni Association's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1968, the Society of American Foresters' Gifford Pinchot Award in 1975, and the Utah State University's Centennial Award in 1987.

Administrative Information

Related Materials: The College of Forestry Records (RG 139) include materials pertaining to Dunn's years as Dean. Other forestry-related collections include the George W. Peavy Papers (MSS Peavy) and the W. F. McCulloch Collection (MSS McCulloch). The OSU Research Forests published an oral history of Paul M. Dunn in 1990 - it is held in the Soap Creek Valley History Project Oral Histories Collection (OH 006).

Preferred Citation: Paul M. Dunn Papers (MSS Dunn), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: Several of the awards, certificates, and photographs have been kept in their original frames at the request of the donor because they may be displayed by the College of Forestry. They may be removed from the frames in the future.

Other URL: A preliminary container list was created for this collection on or before Decemeber 11, 2015.

Creators

Dunn, Paul M.

People, Places, and Topics

Dunn, Paul M.
Experimental forests--Florida.
Forestry schools and education--Chile.
Forestry schools and education--Oregon--Corvallis.
Natural Resources
Study of some forest tree plantings on agricultural lands and watershed areas in Utah showing methods of reforestation and first results.
University History
Western Forestry Center (Portland, Or.)

Forms of Material

Photographic prints.
Scrapbooks.


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