Scope and Content Note
The Franko Goldman Family Papers are chiefly related to the professional lives of brothers Sam and Nahan Franko, their nephew Edwin Franko Goldman and his son Richard Franko Goldman. The correspondence series is the largest portion of the collection and includes letters to and from Percy Grainger, Henry Cowell, including several letters he wrote from San Quentin, Wallingford Riegger, Yehudi Menuhin, Aaron Copland, Darius Milhaud, Douglas Moore, Leo Sowerby, and Edgard Varèse. The writings series includes a typescript of the unpublished autobiography of Edwin Franko Goldman, two holograph manuscripts written by Edwin on building band programs and starting a band school, and several articles by Richard Franko Goldman. The photographs series contains photographs of Richard Franko Goldman, the Goldman Band, and various composers and musicians. Many in this latter category are inscribed to members of the Franko Goldman family and include the following individuals: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Moritz Moszkowski, Mischa Elman, Ottorino Respighi, Yehudi Menuhin, and Carlos Chávez. The scrapbook series contains six scrapbooks belonging to Sam Franko that contain manuscript notes and commentaries, programs, clippings, letters, photographs and other ephemera relating to his life and career. The autograph book is a velvet-coated album compiled by Richard Franko Goldman's great-aunt Lybia Franko, and contains seventy-four inscriptions and autographs of prominent musical and theatrical figures.