New York City Opera (NYCO) was famously dubbed "The People's Opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943. The Opera company's mission is to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically compelling opera at an affordable price. This collection documents the artistic productions and the daily administrative functions and operations attest to the mission of the company. The materials in this collection consist of administrative and financial records, production files, stage guides, scores, correspondence, programs, photographs, posters, scenery plans, memorabilia, printed materials, and audio and video recordings, dating from 1924 to 2019, with its bulk dating from 1965 to 1991.

This collection contains the papers of Peter G. Davis (1936-2021), who worked as a classical music critic at various national and specialist publications from 1962-2018. It includes the vast majority of Davis's writings on music (published or draft), along with print material relating to these writings, Davis's compositions (1957-1964), material relating to Davis's early education (1948-1959), and correspondence and interviews with a number of major classical musicians.