Background
Robert Graham Dun was born on August 7, 1826 in Chillicothe, Ohio, United States. His parents were Robert Dun, the son of a clergyman of Glasgow, and Lucy Worthum Angus, whom he had married in Virginia.
Robert Graham Dun was born on August 7, 1826 in Chillicothe, Ohio, United States. His parents were Robert Dun, the son of a clergyman of Glasgow, and Lucy Worthum Angus, whom he had married in Virginia.
Robert Graham Dun received his schooling at the local academy at Chillicothe.
Dun was early employed in a store, and shortly after reaching his majority became the proprietor of a small local business.
In 1850, Benjamin Douglass, who had married Dun’s sister Elizabeth, gave the young man an opportunity to join the organization of Tappan & Douglass, “The Mercantile Agency, ” in New York City. This business, the first of its kind, had been originated by Lewis Tappan after the panic of 1837. At first its service consisted in supplying facts relating to the credit standing of country storekeepers to a few wholesale firms in New York, which paid annual subscriptions to cover the cost of obtaining such information. Under the management of Douglass the scope of its service was being expanded.
Dun’s first marked success was achieved in dealing with the personnel of the central office. He quickly won the interest and loyalty of his colleagues, which in the later development of the business was an important factor. In 1854 the firm was reorganized as B. Douglass & Company, with Dun as a partner.
On the withdrawal of Douglass in 1859, Dun succeeded to his interest, becoming the sole owner, although the profits were shared with various associates who were known to the public as partners in the enterprise; the New York office operated for a time as Dun, Boyd & Company and later as Dun, Barlow & Company.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, R. G. Dun & Company had branches in the principal cities of the country, including several in the South. Like many other enterprises of national scope, “The Mercantile Agency” could do little more than mark time during the war, but the remaining years of the century were signalized by unexampled growth and adaptation to rapid changes in business methods. In that period of transformation, Dun’s managerial abilities were severely tested.
He had a special gift for associating with him in close sympathy and cooperation men of ability, and this group which shaped the company’s policies quietly proceeded to fit them to the changing demands of the business world, taking advantage at the same time of every new device in the mechanism of trade that seemed to promise increased efficiency in the service that they were rendering to the business community. The problem of reaching distant states promptly and receiving needed information from them in time to be of service was vastly greater than in the early days. Speed was entering into every form of business activity. The new conditions called for new methods. The offices of R. G. Dun & Company were among the first to make large use of the typewriter for communications with subscribers. The publishing activities of the house were developed with the expansion of its interests.
As early as 1859, the year of Dun’s accession to ownership, the first of the series of reference books appeared. The printing required by the efforts to keep up with the clients’ requests for information in time attained so great a volume that the company had to install its own plant, employing several hundred persons.
On August 5, 1893, Dun’s Review, containing a weekly report of business conditions, was inaugurated. Dun’s researches went everywhere, even beyond continental bounds. Offices were opened in Paris, in Germany — finally, in Australia and South Africa. Personally a retiring man, with domestic tastes, he avoided publicity.
Dun married twice: first, Elizabeth Douglass, sister of Benjamin Douglass, and second, Mary D. Bradford of Milwaukee.
