Music Library Administrative Records, 1917-2007 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

The University of Illinois Music and Performing Arts Library was initially founded in the memorial room of Smith Hall in 1943. The school's first music librarian was Jay Allen (1943-1960) and his assistant was Virginia Shirley. In 1963, the University of Illinois received a generous gift from Ellnora Krannert (class of 1912). However, the grant arrived just as the School of Music was planning to construct a new educational building for music on campus. Since Krannert's grant was so substantial, the State of Illinois dropped the budget it had planned for two construction projects: a new library (conceived to alleviate the overcrowded music library in Smith) as well as an addition to Smith Hall. At the time, the library was under the direction of Thor E. Wood (1960-1965).

Although the Krannert Center, which opened in 1969, contained numerous performance spaces, it did not have space to accomodate the vast library of music books and recordings that had been collected by the School of Music. Funding eventually came in the early 1970s and the School of Music moved into its current location in the Music Building 1114 W. Nevada Street in 1972. The library soon followed, opening in 1974. Head librarian William McClellan (1965-1997) resided over the new library space and quickly began expanding the library's holdings to include not only books and audio recordings but also special collections. Wilma Jean Geil (assistant librarian 1965-1996) collected and processed many of the small special collections. In most cases, if a collection contained published music, LPs, or tape cassettes the items were ingested, cataloged, and dispersed among the circulating library collection.

In 1978, the University of Illinois became the first research library in the country to implement an online catalog. By 1992 the University Library began creating networked databases and by 1994 the Music and Performing Arts Library had implemented its first international online catalog system, allowing collections to be accessible around the world. Shortly after completing this work, McClellan retired and Richard Griscom became the new head of the Music and Performing Arts Library (1997-2004). By 2002, advances in internet technology led the Music and Performing Arts Library to subscribe to the first streaming audio platforms. Dance materials were added to the collection in 2004. Following Griscom, John Wagstaff served as Music Librarian (2005-2016). He oversaw the addition of theater materials in 2008. Many of the paper records within special collections acquired by the library remained unprocessed until 2015 when the majority of the special collections were transferred to the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. In 2018, after serving as interim head, Kirstin Dougan Johnson became head of the Music and Performing Arts Library (2018- ). In that same year, she was joined by Kate Lambaria, who became Music and Performing Arts Librarian.

Ann Silverberg, A Sympathy With Sounds: A Brief History of the University of Illinois School of Music to Celebrate its Centennial (Urbana: University of Illinois School of Music, 1995).

https://www.library.illinois.edu/mpal/about/exhibits/65thannivreminiscences/

"IAML Memories: John Wagstaff," International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, (2025) online at: https://www.iaml.info/iaml-memories-john-wagstaff/.

Jeffrey Magee and Gayle Magee, "Where We Hope to Be: The School of Music Since 1995," Sonorities (2022), 11-21.

Notes from the Music and Performing Arts Library, ed. Kirstin Dougan Johnson (Fall 2018), online at: https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/107998