Donald William Krummel

Donald William Krummel (July 12, 1929 – June 25, 2026) was an American music bibliographer, academic and librarian. Essays in Honor of Donald W. Krummel was published in 1996. In 2012 he was honored by the Society for American Music with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Education and career Krummel received the B.Mus. (1951), M.Mus. (1953), M.A.L.S. (Masters in Liberal Studies, 1954), and Ph.D. (1958) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

He was a Teaching Fellow (1952–1954) and Instructor in Music Literature (1954–1956) at the University of Michigan.

Krummel was Reference Librarian for the Music Division at the Library of Congress from 1956 to 1961.

He was Head of the Reference Department (1962–1964) and Associate Librarian from 1964 to 1969 at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Krummel was professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1970–1997) in the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. He held National Endowment for the Humanities project awards in 1976, 1979, and 1983.

In 1988, he was the Englehard Lecturer at the Library of Congress, Center for the Book.

He served as a faculty member at the Rare Book School at Columbia University, which then moved to the University of Virginia (1990–2008).

From 1997, Krummel was professor emeritus at the University of Illinois.

Personal life and death Krummel married Marilyn Frederick (1931–2025) on June 15, 1956. They had two children, Karen and Matthew, and three grandchildren.

Krummel died on June 25, 2026, at the age of 96.

Selected honors and awards 2017. Bibliographical Society of America Honorary Member. 2012. Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for American Music 2004. American Printing History Association Laureate Award. 1999. Beta Phi Mu Award for distinguished service to education for librarianship. 1991. University of Illinois University Scholar 1989. Sonneck Society (Society of American Music), Irving Lowens Book Award. 1987. American Library Association G.K. Hall Award 1983. Vincent H. Duckles Award. Music Library Association 1976–1977. Guggenheim Fellow 1974–1975. University College (London) Honorary Research Fellow 1969–1970. Newberry Library Traveling Research Fellow 1969. Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies Scholar in Residence 1965. Henry E. Huntington Library. Grant-in-Aid

Selected publications Books

Presented at the Library of Congress, Center for the Book.

Articles