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Frank McGrann Collection
Umbrella Collection name: American Bandmasters AssociationResearch Center
Individual Collection name: Frank McGrann Collection
Repository name: Special Collections in Performing Arts,
Performing Arts Library, University of Maryland
Type: Sound recordings, photographs, documents, band hats, and printer's plates
Collection dates: 1899-1948
Extent: 8 linear feet
Description: This collection contains historic 78 rpm recordings of concert bands, as well as a few additional items of memorabilia.
Statement of provenance: Gift of Mrs. Mary (Frank) E. McGrann (daughter-in-law of Frank McGrann). The recordings were de-accessioned from the Franklin and Marshall College Library on October 2, 1985 and given to the ABA Research Center. (The Frank McGrann Recording Collection was donated by McGrann's son, John E. McGrann, to Franklin and Marshall College on March 31, 1968. According to a Franklin and Marshall press release, the collection contained 705 selections. An article by Charlotte Brown on the de-accessioning process was published in the Wilson Library Bulletin in April, 1987). The first twenty-eight photographs, as well as the hats and documents were given by Mrs. McGrann to the ABA Research Center, also in 1985. An additional sixty-four photographs, one letter, and four printer's blocks were a gift of Mrs. McGrann on May 23, 1987 (87-133-ABA).
Governing documents: Deed of Gift, signed by (Mrs. John E.) Mary L. McGrann on July 15, 1985, and Bruce D. Wilson on October 2, 1985.
Finding Aid: The McGrann recordings are listed in an internal database. The McGrann file also contains a type-written inventory of the materials. This may be McGrann's original.
SCPA shelf location: Scores and documents are in SCPA Collections Room, Aisle C. The records are in paged collections.
Access: Materials from this collection must be used in the Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room, 10 to 5, Monday through Friday. Please make an appointment with the curator.
Biography: Frank McGrann (1880-1962) was a friend of John Philip Sousa, Arthur Pryor, Herbert L. Clarks, F. N. Innes, and Edwin Franko Goldman, and served as guest conductor of many of those ensembles. McGrann was active in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a township supervisor, a bank director, a deputy sheriff, and Justice of the Peace.
Life Chronology:
1880 Born, November 13, Manheim Township, Pennsylvania
1903 Joins the board of Conestoga Bank
1905-1921 Runs poultry business
1918-1924 Serves first term as Justice of the Peace
1930-1948 Serves additional terms as Justice of the Peace
1939-1940 Organizes Conestoga Brass Band
1942 Helps to bring RCA plant to Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1962 Dies
