Call Number:

ACC2073

Repository:

Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

107.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1817-1990

Abstract:

Born in 1914, Francis C. P. McGlinn graduated from William Penn Charter School in 1933, the University of North Carolina in 1937, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1940. He served in the military during World War II, receiving a Purple Heart when he was injured in 1944. After the war, he worked at the law firm of Pepper, Bodine, Stokes and Hamilton and Sheetz. He left the practice of law to work as an executive for the Al Paul Lefton Co., an advertising firm, from 1953-1957. Following his tenure at the Lefton Company, McGlinn worked as an officer at The Fidelity Bank where he eventually became executive vice president (1971-1978). McGlinn left The Fidelity Bank for the Western Savings Bank where he served as vice president (1978-1980) and senior vice president (1980-1982). A Republican since 1932, McGlinn excelled as a fund-raiser and a financial adviser for the state and national Republican Party. McGlinn also served on the board of trustees of Temple University (1954-1971), the board of trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and other civic and philanthropic organizations. McGlinn was an aficionado of the theater and collected materials on actors, acting families, and theaters. He was connected for many years with the Walnut Street Theatre and the Actors' Fund of America.

This is a collection of theatrical materials assembled by Frank McGlinn. The bulk of the collection is made up of playbills, scrapbooks, and magazines. The playbills date from the middle to the end of the twentieth century and are primarily from theaters in Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC, and Connecticut. Scrapbooks include those compiled by McGlinn on a variety of stage and screen actors and acting families; on theatrical subjects, such as Jewish theater and African Americans in theater; and on a wide variety of other performing arts subjects, such as the Academy of Music, opera, and the Beatles. Other scrapbooks in the collection are those collected by McGlinn, including "theater record" books which document the theater attendance of Beatrice A. Wilson and others, and scrapbooks of clippings, photographs, playbills, and ticket stubs, dating from the early twentieth century. Magazines in the collection include Variety, Theater Week, Marquee, Show, Film Bulletin, and Cinema. The collection also includes a number of newspaper clippings, posters, photographs, etchings and engravings, sheet music and librettos, souvenir programs and books, and vinyl records. Of note are the materials that document specific theaters, many of them located in Philadelphia. These materials include clippings, interior and exterior photos of theater buildings, and season programs of local, national, and foreign theaters. Materials specifically related to the Walnut Street Theater include playbills, photos, and clippings, as well as minutes, memos, and planning documents from McGlinn's time on the theater's board of directors, draft copies of a history of the theater by Esther M. Klein, entitled "Raising the Curtain," and a chronology of the theater compiled by Alice A. McGlinn in 1972.