Gregorian Institute of America (GIA)

The Kyriale Chants was a 78-rpm shellac series issued by the Gregorian Institute of America (GIA), documenting the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei). Surviving copies show GIA cataloging such as Album 4K, explicitly labeled 10" 78 RPM. These discs were sold directly by the Institute and advertised as Kyriale “record albums” of its choristers.

The issuing body—the Gregorian Institute of America—was founded on December 8, 1941 (initially in Pittsburgh, shortly thereafter operating from Toledo). GIA’s own histories and partner write-ups give the 1941 foundation date and explain the Institute’s original mission as a chant education enterprise that later expanded into publishing.

As printed on period publications and mail-order materials, the label’s address in the 78-rpm era was: Gregorian Institute of America, 2132 Jefferson Avenue, Toledo 2, Ohio (pre-ZIP; later standardized as Toledo, OH 43604). Multiple issues of The Gregorian Review carry this address, and discographic summaries repeat it in modern form.

As a 78-rpm label activity, the series effectively wound down by the late 1950s as the U.S. market shifted to LP/45. The Institute itself ceased operating as a school in 1965 in the wake of post–Vatican II liturgical changes; its publishing arm continued (and later evolved into today’s GIA Publications).