This collection principally contains autograph manuscripts, manuscript copies and photocopies of works by various composers, correspondence and photographs. It includes, among others, records of John Edmund Paul Adlous, Joseph Humfrey Anger, Tadeusz Baird, Mitchell Clarke, Thomas James Crawford, Leopold Damrosch, Auguste Descarries, Frederick Tristram Egener, Lynnwood Farnam, George Fox, Eugene Goossens, Connor Hamilton, William Hawke, Edward Johnson, Roméo Clément Larivière, Franz Liszt, John Mills-Cockell, François Morel, Joseph-Julien Perreault, Henri Pontbriand, François-Anatole-Laurent de Rille, Charles Wugk Sabatier, Léo Saint-Germain, Henri Schaempaert, Harry Somers, Walter Ralph Turner, Joseph Vézina, Jon Vickers, Wilfrid Virgo, Samuel Prowse Warren and the Woodlawn Arts Foundation.
This collection also features manuscripts and photocopies of various music books which were used by Canadians in the nineteenth century to replace non-existent or expensive music imported from Great Britain and the European continent. These include: the Bath Manuscript Book (1835) consisting of copies of songs and piano pieces; William Henry Draper's compilation of piano music used by members of his family in Toronto during the latter half of the nineteenth century; T.G.W. Hayes's collection of Anglican church anthems from the first half of the nineteenth century used in London, Ontario; and the tunebooks of John Nagle and Jeremiah Regan containing fiddle and folk music of the nineteenth century.
