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Student at Hillsdale College, soldier during the Civil War with the 64th Illinois Volunteers. Diaries, 1860-1872, describing student life, wartime activities, trip to Europe and the Near East, and western trip containing impressions of Indians and Mormons; also correspondence, various writings, and commonplace book, 1872.

The Francis Wayland Dunn collection consists of diaries, correspondence, writings, and miscellaneous personal materials.

Free Will Baptist minister, professor and acting president of Hillsdale College. Correspondence and other materials concerning the Free Will Baptists, Hillsdale College and its predecessor, Michigan Central College at Spring Arbor, with mention of Dunn's anti-slavery and Republican Party activities; also Civil War letters from his sons, Francis Wayland Dunn and Newell Ransom Dunn.

The Ransom Dunn collection includes both his own papers and those of other family members, including his father John Dunn and Ransom Dunn's wife Cyrena Emery Dunn. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence received by Ransom Dunn in the period of 1835 to 1900. These letters concern the Free Will Baptist Church and the growth and development of Hillsdale College and its predecessor, Michigan Central College at Spring Arbor. Some of the letters concern anti-slavery and Republican Party activities; others relate to personal and family affairs. Importantly, there are letters from his sons Francis Wayland Dunn and Newell Ransom Dunn, as students at Hillsdale and as soldiers serving in the Civil War. One of the letters in the collection is from Austin Blair (Feb. 23, 1853) discussing the legality of an injunction on Michigan Central College, Spring Arbor. Other portions of the collection include Dunn's writings on theological topics, sermons, diaries, and a few photographs.