Manuscripts

Manuscripts

Besides the rich music found on the cylinder recordings, the Dunn Family Collection also contains five manuscript books of notated Irish tunes, a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, and correspondence, notes, and musical notations found scattered throughout books in the collection.

The origins of the musical manuscripts are difficult to determine. Most appear to have been bound together from various sources, and although some of the notation may be from Francis O'Neill's hand, it is likely the majority is from Michael J. Dunn or his son, Michael J. Dunn, Jr. Since Dunn received materials from James Early, it is also possible some of the work could be Early's.