Julius Gold was a violinist, musicologist and teacher of both violin and music theory who was active in California in the first half of the 20th century. Having studied with the German theorist Bernhard Ziehn in Chicago from 1905-1910, Gold became an interpreter of Ziehn and one of his most avid apologists. Although his writings on Ziehn were never published, numerous typescripts of Gold's translations of and commentaries on Ziehn's writings are included in this collection. Gold also wrote extensively on the ecclesiastical modes, and the collection includes an abundance of writings and score examples both on modal doctrines and a wide variety of other subjects of music theory.

The papers of Julius Gold span the period from 1858 to 1964, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1920-1955. In addition to the writings described above there is extensive correspondence, both with notable colleagues such as Hans Joachim Moser, Lloyd Hibberd, and John Alden Carpenter, and with a great many of Gold's students, including Winthrop Sargeant, Frank Fragale, Meredith Willson, and Isaac Stern. Gold collected music books, amassing a 10,000 volume research library, and included here is a body of correspondence addressing the acquisition and sale of books and music, both by Julius Gold himself and by his daughter's firm, Glen Gold Books and Music. A large selection of publishers' catalogs is also pertinent to Gold's book collecting activities.

The remaining papers in the collection consist of promotion materials of Julius Gold and others, financial and legal papers, photographs, programs, and an assortment of printed music for the piano -- much of which may have belonged to Gold's wife, Janet Hale Gold, herself a pianist and a teacher of piano.