John Lunsford Papers

The John Lunsford Papers are arranged into 10 series. In some series, original order of the creator was maintained with minor rearrangement. In other series, order was established by the archivist in order to facilitate ease of research and contextual understanding of the materials. Transfer of the materials occured after the death of the creator, so original order and context was somewhat disrupted during packing and transport.

The Professional Work series chronicles Lunsford's career in museums and academia in six subseries. The Teaching subseries consists of syllabi, lecture outlines, exams, rosters, notes, and other teaching materials used in classes taught at SMU and other academic institutions. The Talks and Lextures subseries consists of lecture outlines, scripts, annotations, and notes on various subjects for lectures, presentations, docent trainings, and other professional talks given by Lunsford over the course of his career. The Curation, Art History, and Appraisal subseries compiles professional writing and work done by Lunsford that is not lecture or teaching materials and typically concerns the history and value of particular objects, peoples, or art. The Conferences and Professional Organizations subseries collects schedules, publications, newsletters, pamphlets, and similar materials related to conferences, meetings, and other professional activities understaken by Lunsford, mostly in the realms of archaeology, anthropology, and art history. The Writing by Others subseries is a collection of writing sent to or otherwise acquired by Lunsford, often for review, editing, or as part of his teaching work. Lastly, the Meadows Museum subseries documents his time as Director of the Meadows Museum at SMU through invitations, clippings, and other ephemera.

The Subject Files series most closely maintains the original order the materials were recieved in, wth some additions by the archivst. The series consists of numerous files of collected material on many subjects. Materials within files may include newspaper or magazine clippings, photocopies of printed materials, handwritten or typed notes, images, and other paper records. These files seem to have been compiled by the creator throught his life, possibly for use in professional endeavors or due to his general interest.

The Object and Collection Records series documents information about art objects in both Lunsford's personal collection and at the Dallas Museum of art. Records may include images of the objects, assigned accession or object numbers, provenance research, and appraisal information.

The Travel subseries consists of three subseries: Travel Diaries, Professional Tours and Trips, and Personal Travel. The Travel Diaries subseries collects numerous bound volumes spanning several decades which contain Lunsford's diary entries documenting various trips around the world. The diaries often specify a location and date span and include records of museums visited, conversations, and other personal events. The Professional Tours and Trips subseries consists of travel brochures, photographs, and iteneraries for trips led or attended by Lunsford as part of his employment with th Dallas Museum of Art and in other professional capacities. The Personal Travel subseries consists of travel brochures, images, and other printed materials related to travel he did in his personal life.

The Biographical Records series contains six subseries. The Coursework subseries contains student work and educational materials from Lunsford's school career, with a focus on writing and other output created during his gradute studies at Columbia University, but including educational materials from his attendance at Sunset High School and Harvard College. The Autobiographical Materials subseries consists of materials collected by Lunsford that were intended to be used in the writing of his autobiography, with some additions to this subseries made by the archivist. The Family History subseries contains historical records, correspondence, images, and research related to Lunsford's immediate family and past generations, including government records, correspondence, a family tree, and examples of his father's work as a journalist. The Vital Records subseries compiles documents like birth certificates, passports, licenses, and other offical records. The Personal Events, Invitations, and Obituaries is a collection of printed material relating to Lunsford's invitation to the life events of family and friends. The Personal and Family Photographs subseries includes photographs of Lunsford and his immediate family, as well as images of extended family and some historical photographs of extended family ancestors.

The Writing series is divided into Personal Diaries and Prose and Poetry. Lunsford's Personal Diaries cover a majority of his lifetime, from his drafting into the U.S. Army in 1955 up to 2018, less than a year before his death, with the most significant amount of material dating from the 2000s and 2010s. The Prose and Poetry subseries collections Lunsford's presonal writing endeavors, consisting primarily of poems and short stories from the 1950s to the 1990s. The subseries also contains a manuscript and indexes. Materials for both subseries are arranged in chronological order.

The Correspondence series contains primarily correspondence to Lunsford, including end-of-year update letters and Christmas cards, as well as some unsent correspondence.

The Music, Theater, and Event Programs consist of numerious programs, librettos, schedules, and other printed materials from performances. The programs are arranged alphabetically, generally by performer, group, or presenting institution.

The Slides series is comprised of film slides taken by Lunsford and some by his mother Eleanor Lunsford. The majority of the slides document locations and landmarks visited by one or both of them and span many decades but most significantly fro the 1950s to the 1990s. Additionally, there are a number of object photos, both 'in situ" and in museums, gallerys, or other display locations, including documentation of the Stillman and Schindler collections. Other slides were created from drawings, maps, and other documents and may have been used in lectures and classes led by Lunsford. Slides were recieved by the archivist in slide boxes, often labeled by Lunsford, and were placed in slide sleeves. Most often, the slides were grouped by Lunsford geographically and chronologically, essentially grouped by each trip he went on, and that arrangement was kept and continued by the archivist. Where slides are dated within a trip, they are arranged chronologically. Slide sleeves are titled and dated (where possible), with basic description documenting content or subject.

Lastly, the Digital Records series contains files that were on floppy disks, hard drives, and zip disks. These files are generally digital copies of paper record that appear elsewhere in the Lunsford Papers. Files inlcude resumes, drafts of articles, lectures, reading notes, indexes of music and theatre programs, newsletters, and other writing. Files were recieved on multiple types of storage media and transferred to a flash drive. The arrangement of the files on the flash drive corresponds to the sotrage media from which the files were transferred.