This collection contains material that documents a wide variety of women's participation in the broad field of music. The material consists of articles, books, brochures, catalogs, concert programs, interviews (both written and recorded), leaflets, musical scores, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, photographs, publicity, recordings and songbooks. There are a few items in the collection that date from the nineteenth century including some rather unique items such as a "juvenile singing book" dating from 1853. More typically the nineteenth century material includes biographical articles and newspaper clippings about well-known women singers of the period such as Lillie Greenough and Henriette Sontag, and women composers such as Amy Beach. The most significant of this material relates to internationally known singer Jenny Lind, and especially to the years she spent in Northampton during the 1840s. Included in the Lind material are articles, copies of correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, concert programs and photographs.

Most of the material in this collection documents the contributions of women musicians to the field after 1930. There is a significant amount of biographical material related to classical musicians such as Nadia Boulanger, Sarah Caldwell, Emmy Destinn, Frederique Petrides, Olga Samaroff Stowkowski, Beverly Sills, Geraldine Farrar, and Kirsten Flagstad. There is also a large amount of material in the collection that documents the achievements and influence of more recent women musicians including folk musicians Malvina Reynolds and Mary Travers; the women's liberation rock bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s; and the early pioneers of feminist "women's music" such as Holly Near, Meg Christian, Alix Dobkin and Margie Adam; as well as feminist recording companies, Redwood Records and Olivia Records.