Gladys Wright papers
Collection
0461-SCPA-ABA
Gladys Stone Wright (b. 1925) is a twenty and twenty-first century American conductor, music educator, and advocate. Wright served as the Director of Bands at Elmira High School, Otterbein High School, Klondike High School, and Harrison High School before her retirement in the 1980s. Wright founded Women Band Directors International, a professional organization promoting and advocating for practicing and aspiring women band directors and conductors. In 1984, Wright became the first woman elected into the American Bandmasters Association. The Gladys Wright papers cover the period from 1939-2023. The collection consists of photographs, concert programs, publications, awards, correspondence, and newspaper and magazine clippings related to Wright's career as a band director and conductor.
The collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during SCPA’s operating hours. Please contact the curator for an appointment or if you have questions related to digital access of the materials.
Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.
1.25 Linear Feet
English
The Gladys Wright papers cover the period from 1939-2023. The papers consist of concert programs, correspondence, photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, publications, and awards related to Wright's work as a conductor, educator, and director of wind bands.
Gladys Stone Wright (b. 1925) is an American music educator, conductor, and advocate for women band directors. Wright was born is Wasco, Oregon, and studied music education at the University of Oregon. Following her collegiate studies, Wright became the first woman band director in the state of Oregon, teaching from 1948-1953 at Elmira High School in Elmira, OR.
Following her position at Elmira High School, Wright taught at high schools in Otterbein, Indiana (1954–1961), Klondike, West Lafayette, Indiana (1963–1970) and William Henry Harrison, West Lafayette, Indiana (1970–1984). The William Henry Harrison Band toured extensively throughout the USA, Europe, Central America and Canada, winning the Gold Medal of the World Music Contest of Kerkrade, Holland in 1974.
She is the founding president of the Women Band Directors National Association, founding editor of Woman Conductor magazine, and the first woman band director elected to the American Bandmasters Association and the National Band Directors Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors. In 1995 she was elected to the National Hall of Fame of Distinguished Woman Band Conductors. She was a vice president of the John Philip Sousa Foundation, where she chairs the Sudler Flag and Cup awards, which acknowledge the achievements of outstanding high school and middle-school bands. She is the composer of two quickstep marches, "Trumpets and Tabards" and "The Big Bowl," both published by Carl Fischer.
The collection is arranged into eleven series:
Donated by Nikki Jo Kehoe in May 2024.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library