Scope and arrangement
The photographs in this collection date from the 1890s to 1989, and consist mostly of personal photographs compiled by Louis Gunn, as well as some professional photographs related to Bill Gunn's career. The collection is arranged by type (scrapbooks, albums, and loose photographs) which are then arranged chronologically. The original order of the albums and scrapbooks were maintained, and often contain a wide range of dates.
Personal photographs contain the scrapbooks and photo albums, as well as loose photographs. The two scrapbooks date from approximately the 1880s to the 1940s, and contain collages of the Gunn family (including Bill Gunn as a baby), and vaudeville actors. They were likely assembled by Louise Gunn. All five photo albums contain several generations of the Gunn family, friends, and some ephemera. Each album is loosely arranged chronologically, but incorporate portraits of distant relatives from the late 1880s and 1890s, with snapshots from the twentieth century.
Loose photographs are from the same period as the albums, and contain Vaudeville Actors and Family and Friends. Many of the vaudeville photographs appear to be of minstrel shows, depicting many of the male performers in blackface. The vaudeville actors photographs include headshots of Louise Gunn in costume and makeup, as well as Cab Calloway, Jimmie Lunceford and more. The Family and Friends grouping commence with generational pictures from the 1880s, and conclude with snapshots from the late 1980s.
There is a single folder containing Professional photographs, which include images of actors from the 1960s through 1989. There are headshots of Bill Gunn, Ernest Perry, Steven Williams, and others, as well as a contact sheet containing images of Bill Gunn acting with Natalie Wood in the 1966 film, Penelope.