The collection contains 676 folders. As part of the original collection, there are 257 folders containing manuscript and published scores of Livingston Gearhart’s compositions and arrangements, 79 folders containing published scores by other composers annotated for performance by Gearhart, and 5 folders containing sketchbooks or workbooks with various musical exercises, sketches, and other works. Excluding the annotated scores and the scores added after original processing was completed, there are approximately 178 folders containing manuscript materials and 84 folders containing printed materials. Of the printed works, approximately 69 were published by Shawnee Press. Gearhart composed his works between 1930 and 1996 but five of his compositions in the collection were published after his death in 1997. His son Fritz Gearhart and wife Pamela Gearhart did extensive work to organize materials and edited several for publication.

The manuscript scores document Gearhart’s work from sketches through different versions to the finished, final version of a work. Most of these are in Gearhart’s hand with a small percentage being copied by other people. Many of the scores are accompanied by instrumental parts and explanatory notes of varying lengths by either Livingston,Pamela, or Fritz Gearhart. These notes often provide details about the background and history of works.

A major component of Gearhart’s output consists of his approximately 119 arrangements. These include arrangements chiefly made for didactic purposes for various instrumental combinations, arrangements for two pianos, many of which were used by Gearhart in his performances with Virginia Morley during their years as a piano-duo, choral arrangements, and arrangements for band or orchestra. There are other works by Gearhart that are difficult to classify strictly as arrangements due to the extent of Gearhart’s compositional reworking of the material. The titles identified as arrangements draw from a wide range of sources, including works by composers such as Arlen, Bach, Berlioz, Boccherini, Brahms, Brubeck, Debussy, Delius, Fauré, Johann Fischer, Haydn, Holst, J. Rosamond Johnson, Joplin, Lyadov, Macdowell, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Cole Porter, Serge Prokofiev, Purcell, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Stravinsky, and Wolf-Ferrari in addition to traditional and popular tunes such as We wish you a merry Christmas, Star spangled banner, Non nobis, Domine, and Au clair de la lune.

Gearhart’s pedagogical works include several compilations that consist of both original and arranged works. Most of these are in a series he titled Sessions: Bass Clef Sessions, Clarinet Sessions, Duet Sessions, Fiddle Sessions, Flute Sessions, Rhythm Sessions, Sax Sessions, Treble Clef Sessions, and Trumpet Sessions. Six of these titles were published by Shawnee Press. Many of the pieces within the compilations were written to provide practice in specific rhythmic and technical elements. Gearhart also devised sets of trick pieces and canons to assist with teaching. Another aspect of Gearhart’s pedagogical work is evident in the many pieces he arranged for use by his wife, Pamela Gearhart, in her work as conductor of the orchestra of the Community Music School of Buffalo and numerous string workshops and musical clinics, including a summer music camp in Huntsville, Alabama called Youth Makes Music. Gearhart also composed a set of nine pieces titled Extraits de mon cahier for pedagogical use by his teacher at Curtis Institute of Music, Marcel Tabuteau.

In addition to separate musical sketches, the collection also contains twelve sketchbooks or workbooks containing original compositions and arrangements as well as studies in harmony and counterpoint written while Gearhart was studying in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. An item of interest is a workbook titled Quodlibets research. It includes a comparative table containing chord structures of various pieces from the folk song, popular, and classical music repertoire. Another item of special interest is a sketchbook containing a two-piano arrangement of Mozart's Quintet in E-flat major K. 614. According to a note by Gearhart the arrangement is by pianist Robert Casadesus and was copied by Virginia Morley.