The Geraldine Farrar Papers span from 1895 to the 1960s, the bulk of which dates from 1989 to 1939. The materials primarily consist of Farrar's personal papers relating to her life and career, including correspondence, scrapbooks and clippings, photographs, music, biographical materials, writings, contracts, scripts, concert programs, awards, and other miscellaneous items.

The Biographical Materials series includes drafts in several versions for Farrar's autobiography Such Sweet Compulsion. Additionally, Writings includes vocal treatises, lectures and speeches, a catalog of music composed and arranged by Farrar, and general writings. The Music series contains both printed and manuscript items. The compositions by Farrar are exclusively for voice with piano accompaniment; the majority date from the late 1930s. Music arranged or translated by Farrar, including several vocal arrangements of works by Rachmaninoff and Kreisler, is also included. Within the Correspondence series are letters, picture postcards, telegrams, and various personal notes both to and from Geraldine Farrar reflecting both her private and public life. Notable correspondents include Enrico Caruso, Gustave Charpentier, Cecil B. DeMille, Paul Dukas, Reynaldo Hahn, Engelbert Humperdinck, Fritz Kreisler, Jules Massenet, Lily Pons, Giacomo Puccini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Arturo Toscanini.

Farrar's contracts with the Metropolitan Opera from 1908 to 1918 comprise the bulk of the Contracts series. There are also a considerable amount of film contracts with the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. Scripts of radio programs and pageants appear in both manuscript and typescript forms and reflect Farrar's career as a musical commentator for various radio programs and as a volunteer in civic organizations after her retirement from opera singing. The majority of the scripts are from the years 1934 and 1935. The programs in the Programs series date from Farrar's first recitals in Melrose, Massachusetts, during her teenage years, to her final appearances as a concert singer in 1931. The items in the Awards and Certificates series date from the last forty years of Farrar's life and relate to her many civic and artistic activities, including her ASCAP and Society of American Arts and Letters membership certificates. The Clippings series comprises cut sections from various periodicals and newspapers. Materials in the Scrapbooks comprise the majority of materials in the collection.

The Civic Materials series contains an assortment of governmental papers, forms, and notes, such as an auto log-book and lists of telephone numbers representing Farrar's participation in the Red Cross and various governmental organizations during World War II. The Photographs and Iconography series documents Farrar's entire life and career. In addition to the many individual photographs, there are also two boxes of photographs (box 49, folders 5-8 and box 50) that were originally bound in two scrapbooks containing only photographs. Items in the Miscellany series include several fans used by Farrar in Madama Butterfly, a framed portion of the curtain from the old Metropolitan Opera house given to her in 1940, as well as several medals and awards.