The Jonathan Larson Papers, spanning the years 1978-1996, came to the Library well organized and accompanied by a detailed appraisal and inventory. The papers are organized in four series: Projects, Biographical Materials, Photographs, and Books. The "Projects" series contains materials for musicals, musical revues, club acts, films, and dance works. These files, including digital files, may include any combination of notes, research materials, correspondence, scripts, script pages, lyric sheets and sketches, musical sketches and scores, notes and sketches for designs, production materials, programs and press materials, and other miscellaneous items. The "Projects" series is organized first by title, then chronologically by year, where possible, to reflect Larson's own arrangement. Cross references for variant titles are inserted in the container list.

The materials for RENT, Superbia , and tick, tick...BOOM! are particularly extensive. These materials are loosely arranged in the following order: scripts, music, and other materials. They are further organized in other subsets based on the type of scores and their source. Much of the material for these three shows arrived in envelopes of materials that had been separated, organized and described by Jonathan Larson himself. Original labels have been cut out and placed at the back of each folder as necessary. Many of these envelopes contained wide varieties of materials, and it was often impossible to determine where one item ended and the next began. Pages of items in such folders have been numbered so that the original order is maintained. Certain frequently-requested materials are highlighted with notes in the container list where appropriate.

The "Projects" series also contains miscellaneous song materials. Many of these are songs that came from shows, but were clearly identified as being separate from the individual show materials. In several instances, songs from various sources were combined together for ease of arrangement. At the end of this series are songs by other writers, but with notes and/or annotations by Jonathan Larson.

The "Biographical Materials" series contains an assortment of personal writings and correspondence, class and workshop notes, flyers, and programs. It also includes business papers, bank statements, tax returns, licenses, bills, and receipts. It is arranged alphabetically by general subject matter. A small "Photographs" series showcases portraits of Jonathan Larson and his piano bar trio J. Glitz. The final series, "Books," consists of novels and plays highlighted or annotated by Larson and that have been retained with the collection. Consult with reference staff about books that were returned to the Larson estate.