In 1968 the foundation's founder, Thomas Heck, was living in Vienna, Austria, collecting rare sheet music for guitar.
[5][6] Along with Heck, others were interested in forming the first national classical guitar association in the United States, including Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, who served on the first GFA Board of Directors.
[2][3] Heck created the GFA archive in 1977 in Milwaukee while teaching at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.
A catalog of the inventory was assembled and mailed to interested buyers, who could receive photocopies of sheet music on request.
During the 1980s, while Heck taught at Ohio State University in Columbus, the archive grew to include more sheet music, periodicals, and other materials related to classical guitar.