Irene Dunne papers
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Scope and Contents
This collection contains the papers of American actor Irene Dunne (1898-1990) and chiefly consists of press clippings, photographs and film stills, and business files related to her movie career. Additional materials include small files of awards, correspondence, and event programs, two music books, and four scripts (A Guy Named Joe; How the West was Won; I Remember Mama; and The White Cliffs of Dover). There are also some scrapbooks/commemorative albums including ones for the christening of the S.S. Carole Lombard in 1944 (Box 16, Volume 2); a New Jersey war bond luncheon and rally in 1942 (Box 16, Volume 3); and an American Red Cross album, 1949 (Box 16, Volume 4).
The press clippings consist of files of loose newspaper clippings and well as forty-six 11 x 17" volumes with pasted clippings of articles that mention or feature Dunne, dating from 1935 to 1951. While most of the clippings relate to her celebrity as a movie star, the last volume (Box 11, Volume 7) deals with her work with St. John's Hospital.
There is little in the collection that reflects Dunne's personal life or family.
Dates
- Creation: 1920 - 1971
Creator
- Dunne, Irene, 1898-1990 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Library at ctlibarc@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Biographical / Historical
Irene Dunne (1898-1990) was an American actor who starred in over forty movies between 1930 and the 1950s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress five times but never won. Outside of acting, Dunne was involved in philanthropic and humanitarian causes. Dunne was married to Dr. Francis D. Griffin and they had one daughter, Mary Frances Griffin.
Extent
22 Linear Feet (17 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains the papers of American actor Irene Dunne (1898-1990) and chiefly consists of press clippings, photographs and film stills, and business files related to her movie career.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Irene Dunne.
Processing Information
Processed by USC students in 2019 as part of the "Piloting a Shared Practice for Accessible Archival Descriptions" Dean's Challenge Grant. Additional description and some rearrangement by Diann Benti in 2021.
Subject
- Dunne, Irene, 1898-1990 -- Archives (Person)
- Dunne, Irene, 1898-1990 -- Photographs (Person)
Genre / Form
Topical
- Title
- Finding aid for the Irene Dunne papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Diann Benti
- Date
- 2021 October
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library Repository
Doheny Memorial Library G4
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0185 United States
ctlibarc@usc.edu