The collection consists of printed materials and correspondence compiled by the noted British music librarian, bibliographer, and musicologist Alec Hyatt King. The printed materials include offprints of articles, complete journal issues, exhibition catalogs, catalogs from music publishers and booksellers, membership lists and organizational histories, and concert programs.

Papers of the French author, poet. Autograph letters signed (176), including 154 to his niece, Valentine de Cessiat; also 12 letters from Marianne de Lamartine to various correspondents. Also, one 2-page manuscript of Lamartine, and one 4-page manuscript of his niece.

Collection of 125 complete pieces of sheet music from European countries: Austria (5), Belgium (6), England (54), France (9), Germany (31), Italy (14), and the Netherlands (5). Most of these include title page illustrations, about 30 of which are in color. The collection includes an additional 24 partial works, most of which consist only of their title pages. The musical content consists of 44 works for solo piano and approximately 75 works for some combination of voice and piano.

Papers of the U.S. Senator, editor, author. Outgoing letters to William H. Coolidge, Edward A. Filene, Curtis Guild, Jr., R.U. Johnson, Harry B. Kirtland, William S. Kyle, J.S. Henley Luce, Stephen Luce, George H. Moses, W.T. Sedgwick, A.R. Turner, Frank E. Woodward, and others.

The collection chiefly consists of sales and auction catalogs from book and antiquarian dealers, with an emphasis on music. There are also some catalogs of personal collections included. Forty-nine of the items are photocopies and the remaining items are originals.

The Jan Williams Collection of Images contains images of various performances and trips made by Jan Williams with accompanying performers and composers. An original gift was received of 321 prints and contact sheets and 54 35mm slides in 2007. An additional gift was received of 173 photographs in 2008.

Chiefly secondary materials such as articles and symposium papers collected by John Clough, many with correspondence.

Chiefly black and white photographs documenting Leo Smit's life and career in music.

The images in the collection provide documentation of performances at the University at Buffalo by Music Dept. faculty and visiting artists, especially in the realm of contemporary music. Among the many notable composers represented in the collection are: Earle Brown, Harrison Birtwistle, Pauline Oliveros, Colin Bright, Julius Eastman, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Lejaren Hiller, Cornelius Cardew, Carlos Chavez, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Elliott Carter, David Del Tredici, Harold Shapero, Ralph Shapey, Ingolf Dahl, Henri Pousseur, Philip Glass, George Crumb, Fredric Myrow, Leon Kirchner, George Rochberg, New Rorem, Allen Sapp, Toru Takemitsu, Morton Subotnick, Leo Smit, and Augusta Read Thomas.

The images in this collection include scenes of music venues at the Pan-American Exposition held in Buffalo in 1901, including the Temple of Music, the Midway, and bandstands. The collection also contains images of musicians who performed at the Exposition and musical instruments used at the Exposition.