The Corney Grain Archive provides an insight into the talents of Richard Corney Grain and the esteem with which he was held among his theatrical contemporaries. The archive includes personal memorabilia including his correspondence, along with photographs, periodical art and reviews, books written by or about Grain, sheet music of his songs, and programs from his German Reed entertainments, most of which include synopses and song lyrics.

This collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, opera librettos, songs, short stories, novels, sketches, and critical reviews. It also has personal family papers of Kurt (Ashley Vernon) and Greta Hartwig Manschinger, paintings and writings by and other records from Greta's sister Mela Hartwig and her husband Robert Spira, audio recordings, scores, and sheet music, as well as audio recordings of performances.

The Kendrick Philander Shedd Papers include correspondence about his resignation from the University of Rochester faculty for socialist sympathies; reminiscences of the socialist movement in Milwaukee, 1915; personal scrapbooks and autobiography; as well as published and unpublished writings. There are also scrapbooks of minutes, correspondence, and clippings on Socialist Educational Federation of Rochester, sponsored by the Progressive Working People's Lyceum and Local Rochester, Socialist Party, 1914; letters and papers concerning the Rochester Socialist Sunday School and Young People's Socialist League; scrapbooks about the Social Center at School No. 9, Rochester, 1908-10; and a defense of Shedd by Lloyd Somers, with exhibits.

Serge Prokofiev (1891–1953) was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist and conductor, and seminal figure in the history of twentieth-century music. The Serge Prokofiev Archive (SPA) contains 58 original music manuscripts and over 10,000 letters and documents primarily from 1918-1936, the years Prokofiev spent in the West. The SPA also includes an expansive collection of music manuscript copies, published scores, concert programs, scholarly books and articles, photographs, and audio and video material, making it the premier research collection for studying Prokofiev's life, work and legacy.

Harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe (1908-1981) contributed to popularizing harpsichord music and promoting new works for the harpsichord in the twentieth century. The collection includes personal correspondence, photographs, clippings and programs, contracts and wills, analog audio reels of important albums Marlowe recorded, and a set of scores of classical pieces set in contemporary popular arrangements composed for Marlowe. The collection also contains correspondence and documents relating to the Harpsichord Music Society (founded by Marlowe) and Kenneth Cooper, its director.