Walter S. Dunn, Jr., received an honors degree in history from Durham University, a MA from Wayne State University and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. He directed various museums from 1956 until he retired in 1989, including the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society. Dunn taught at the University of Wisconsin, the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and Drake University. He has published in the area of 18th-century fur trade, museum administration, and military history.