The Harry Lunn papers document the business dealings of the noted print and photography dealer from the mid-1960s until his death in 1998, and provide a glimpse into the workings of one of the primary creators of the photography art market during the second half of the twentieth century.

Harry Hyatt Lunn, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 29, 1933 to Harry Hyatt and Flora S. Lunn. The senior Lunn, a civil engineer for Detroit Edison and amateur architect, designed the family home based on a Cotswold cottage – a certain anomaly in the otherwise post-war neighborhood in which they lived. Lunn was educated in Detroit public schools and attended the University of Michigan on a Regents-Alumni Scholarship, graduating with an honors degree in economics. During his senior year at Michigan Lunn was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Daily, the university's student newspaper. Prior to the beginning of the school year he attended the National Student Association (NSA) annual meeting in his capacity as incoming editor, and the following year (1954-1955) he was elected president of the organization. The NSA, a confederation of American college and university student governments, was founded at the University of Wisconsin in 1947. From the early 1950s until 1967, the NSA's international program and some of its domestic activities were secretly underwritten by the Central Intelligence Agency. Following his year as NSA president Lunn was recruited by the CIA and traveled throughout Southeast Asia as a member of an International Student Conference (ISC) delegation for the next year and a half. He then served in the army from 1956 to 1958, before becoming a research analyst in the United States Department of Defense. During this time he took part in the activities of the anti-communist Independent Research Service at the 1959 Vienna Youth Festival.

88.6 linear feet (190 boxes)

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Open for use by qualified researchers, except for audio visual material, which is unavailable until reformatted, and sealed material in Box 176.