Lukas Foss was an American composer, conductor, pianist, and educator. The collection, which documents his life and career, consists of music holograph manuscript scores and parts, sketches, correspondence, business papers, programs, clippings, promotional materials, contracts, and financial documents.

David Lewin was an American music theorist, teacher, composer, and musician. The papers primarily relate to his career as a teacher and theorist, and to his work as a composer. They include writings, academic and course materials, printed and manuscript scores, correspondence, computer music materials, programs, clippings, and conference materials.

Gunther Schuller (1925-2015) was a composer, arranger, conductor, educator, author, arts administrator, and publisher, among other roles. The collection contains music composed by Schuller and music he arranged, edited, or transcribed, as well as music by other composers, much of it annotated, that Schuller studied and conducted.

Louise Talma was an American composer, pianist, and teacher. She was a student of Nadia Boulanger and a long-time resident of Fontainebleau and the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The collection consists of music manuscripts, harmony and teaching materials, correspondence, photographs, business papers, clippings, programs, publicity materials, writings, awards and other materials related to her career and her family's history.

Music teacher Mildred Spiegel Zucker was a childhood friend of Leonard Bernstein's, with whom she maintained a lifelong friendship. The collection mostly consists of correspondence that Bernstein sent to Zucker dating from his time as a counselor at Camp Onata, as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, and during the beginning of his career in New York.