One of the most fascinating and intimate parts of working with the Dunn archives was the access to his fan mail. The 3 large boxes full of letters, emails, and postcards displayed a wide range of emotion and demographic-- fans from young and old, male and female, detailing admirations, adoration, personal secrets, sad stories, happy stories, some potential scandal and more. We read fan mail dating from 1971-2014. His fans' devotion does not waver. Dunn's fan mail is a testament to how powerful his poetry is and how art reaches many different types of people. It is apparent that Dunn is a well-loved poet that is open to communicating with the people that read his work.
Moreover, Dunn throughout the years has been a visiting professor at a number of schools—University of Washington, Columbia University, University of Michigan, NYU—and he has taught at Stockton University since 1974. He has also done workshops at a number of different places throughout the country, which in addition to the places he has taught, has allowed for a number of fan mail letters from different places and ranging from as early as 1971 to present day. For the purpose of this part of the exhibit, we will create a timeline, tracing Dunn’s fan mail over the years, beginning with 1971.