McClellan, William (1934-2020) | University of Illinois Archives

William "Bill" Monson McClellan (1934-2020) was a music librarian. Born in Groton, Massachusetts on January 7, 1934, McClellan attended Colorado College, where he earned a BA in music history in 1956. He married Jane Muir in September 1955. Soon after, he received a Masters of Arts in library science from the University of Michigan in 1959. After graduating, McClellan was appointed Music Librarian at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he would stay until 1965.

He came to the University of Illinois in 1965. During his time on faculty, he oversaw the construction of the current two-story 20,000 square foot music library, which was completed in 1974. He also oversaw the transfer of material from Smith Hall to the new facility. McClellan was also responsible for implementing the switch to the Library of Congress Classification system from the Dewey Decimal system. McClellan served as President of the Music Library Association from 1971 to 1973 and as editor of it's journal, Notes, from 1977 to 1982. Prior to his retirement in 1997, he was ordained Deacon in the Diocese of Peoria Illinois. He died in Fort Collins, Colorado on July 8, 2020.

William McClellan, Obituary, online at: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/coloradoan/name/william-mcclellan-obituary?id=8395537.

Kirsten Dougan Johnson, "Notes for Notes; William (Bill) Monson McClellan" Notes 77, no. 3 (March 2021).