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Briscoe Center Gets Dunne Papers

Journalist and writer Dominick Dunne (right) waiting in the media area during the murder trial of Phil Spector. The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History has acquired the papers and manuscripts of the author who died in 2009
Photo courtesy flickr.com/cgkinla
Journalist and writer Dominick Dunne (right) waiting in the media area during the murder trial of Phil Spector. The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History has acquired the papers and manuscripts of the author who died in 2009

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American Studies at UT-Austin has acquired the papers of writer, journalist and frequent Court TV host and contributor Dominick Dunne.

The gift includes manuscripts, personal letters and notes by the author who died in August 2009. Dunne is best known for his writing that often featured high profile or high society people and their brushes with the criminal justice system. Among the collection are Dunne's notes on murder cases involving O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector and Claus von Bülow, as well as his notes from the 1982 murder of his daughter, Dominique. That trial, he said later, was the first murder trial he'd ever attended and influenced his writing and TV appearances for the rest of his life.

The Briscoe Center plans to exhibit a selection of Dunne's papers beginning next April.

Ian Crawford joined KUT as News Editor in 2008, after spending over four years as a reporter/anchor at KLBJ Radio in Austin. He began his broadcasting career while still in high school in Southern Oregon. During high school and college at the University of Oregon, he worked at times as a reporter, news anchor, sports play-by-play reporter, music host and commercial producer before moving to Texas in 2003.