CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Robert J. Dunne

American judge (1899-1980)

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ7345870 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert Jerome "Duke" Dunne (August 29, 1899 – May 18, 1980) was an American football player and coach, and state court judge in Illinois. He played for the University of Michigan from 1918 to 1921, and competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics. After graduating from Michigan in 1922, he attended law school at Northwestern University where he also served as the line coach for the university's football team from 1923 to 1925. He was also the line coach at Harvard University from 1926 to 1930 and at the University of Chicago in 1935. He was a state court judge in Illinois from 1931 to 1976 and served as the presiding judge of Chicago's probate court for his last 20 years on the bench.

Early years

Dunne was born in 1899 in River Forest, Illinois. His father, Edward F. Dunne, was the mayor of Chicago from 1905 to 1907 and governor of Illinois from 1913 to 1917. While his father was serving as governor, the younger Dunne attended high school in Springfield, Illinois, where he was a star athlete in track and football.

Michigan

Three of Dunne's older brothers were athletes at the University of Michigan. His brother Edward graduated from Michigan in 1909 and played first base on the Wolverines' baseball team.

Editorial summary

“Robert J. Dunne” enters the record as american judge (1899-1980). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Robert, Dunne and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1899, 1980, 1918, 1921—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1899-08-29. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Robert, Dunne and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Robert J. Dunne” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Robert, Dunne and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7345870. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1980, 1918 and 1921.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert J. Dunne”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert J. Dunne primary sources, Robert J. Dunne archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert J. Dunne”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert J. Dunne” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.