The Stephen Sondheim Society Archive documents the life and work of musical theatre composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The core of the collection was collected by antiquarian bookseller and Sondheim enthusiast Peter Wood- his collection later passed to the Society. Additional material has been added since, filling in gaps in the Peter Wood collection and documenting productions and publications that have occurred since it was transferred to the Society.

Both parts of the Collection contain a range of material on Stephen Sondheim and his work- notably programmes, leaflets, posters and press cuttings. There are also journals, books, audio visual material and collectables. The Collection dates from Sondheim's earliest work to the present and will continue to be added to as his works continue to be performed. There are also documents relating to the work of the Society itself, notably the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year awards (SSSSPOTY).

Papers of Harold Watkins Shaw, 1950s-1991, including manuscript notes, notebooks, typescripts and associated research material relating to Shaw's articles, particularly in regard to the music and life of George Frideric Handel and Handel's Messiah; offprints of Shaw's articles from various journals; printed orchestral parts of Shaw's edition of Handel's Messiah (1965) with minor manuscript corrections; Shaw's manuscript edition of Handel's Theodora (1984); research papers for a series of articles by Shaw on John Blow, with offprints; manuscript editions by Shaw of works by John Blow, including Awake, awake my lyre!, the orchestral Te Deum and Jubilate in D, Ode on St Cecilia's Day 1691, Evening service, other odes and Latin pieces; research papers for his The Succession of Organists of the Chapel Royal and the Cathedrals of England and Wales from c.1538 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991), mostly comprising autobiographical details (name, birthdates and appointments as organist) of organists then living, together with a few biographical memoirs compiled by relatives of organists recently deceased; correspondence with the deans, provosts and chapter clerks of Anglican cathedrals of modern foundation (formerly parish churches) in connection with lists of their organists; files of correspondence and research papers on organists of ancient cathedrals, and related correspondence with Oxford University Press, librarians and cathedral and college authorities for permission to publish.

Papers of Marion Margaret Scott, 1910-1952, mainly comprising correspondence and papers, 1932-1952, relating to Scott's research on the music of Joseph Haydn, particularly in regard to Haydn's string quartets, and his associations with England, including manuscripts and typescripts of articles on Hadyn by Scott, with three chapters of an unfinished book on Haydn; manuscripts of Scott's edition of Haydn's Quartet Opus 1; correspondence and cuttings regarding research of the musicologist Professor Adolf Sandberger on Haydn's music, 1932-1933; other papers, including manuscripts of vocal and instrumental compositions by Scott; a small amount of other personal and business correspondence, including correspondence relating to the Society of Women Musicians; correspondence with Fanny Davies, pianist, 1927-1931; correspondence relating to the financial affairs and estate of Davies, 1932-1936; two letters from Ivor Gurney [1922-1924], with manuscript and typescript article on Gurney, and correspondence related to her editions of Gurney's songs, including correspondence with the Gurney family, 1949-1951; volume of manuscript poetry by Scott, undated; manuscripts and typescripts of programme notes and articles on London concerts, 1923-1939; manuscripts and typsescripts of unpublished articles and lectures including 'Beethoven today', 'William Hurlstone' and 'Benjamin Britten and Peter Grimes', undated; typescripts of lectures delivered to the Women's Institute, including 'The evolution of English music', 'Musical form - its basis and evolution', 'Musical form, expression and design' and 'Folk songs of four races', 1910; press cuttings on Scott, 1931-1944; autograph book of Fanny Davies at Leipzig and Frankfurt, Germany, including signatures of Salomon Jadassohn, Carl Reinecke and Clara Schumann, 1881-1884; notebook of Sir John Stainer entitled 'The mode of synagogue music' by J Singer, undated.

Papers of Bernarr Rainbow, [1940-1998], including photographs, personalia, music manuscripts, sound recordings, drafts of published and unpublished works, and a small amount of correspondence.

Papers of Dora M Powell mainly relating to the music of Sir Edward Elgar, particularly his Variations on an original theme ('Enigma Variations'), Opus 36 and Dora Powell's book Edward Elgar: memories of a variation (Oxford University Press, London, 1937 and subsequent editions, revised 1994), comprising correspondence, 1934-1960, including correspondence of her husband Richard Crofts Powell relating to the Enigma theme, and particularly his article 'Elgar's "Enigma"', Music and Letters 15 (1934), the correspondence also includes letters from those connected personally or musically with Elgar such as Sir Percy Clarke Hull and Arthur Troyte Griffith; printed music (some signed by Elgar), 1892-1907; draft articles, talks and notes by Dora Powell relating to Elgar; programmes for concerts of Elgar's music, 1908-1959; autograph manuscripts of Elgar's 'The Shepherd song' and 'Rondel' (Opus 16); cuttings relating to Elgar, including reviews of Powell's book, 1910-1944; programme of the Elgar memorial concert, 3 Jun 1934; My friends pictured within: subjects of the Enigma Variations as portrayed in contemporary photographs and Elgars MS (Novello and Co, London).

The records of Musica Reservata comprise original notes, company minutes, correspondence, lyrics and programmes, 1960-1992, notably including manuscript and typescript notes and proofs compiled by Michael Morrow describing the development of Renaissance music for talks, lectures and his published works, [1960-1985]; minutes of the company Council, 1972-1978; company reports, 1972-1974; rehearsal notes, itineraries and tour plans, 1972-1974; correspondence with Michael Morrow and others, mainly concerning the organisation of concerts including fees, 1960-1981; assorted manuscript and typescript lyrics of early modern music, [1960-1980]; programmes and leaflets advertising Musica Reservata performances, 1960-1989; press cuttings on early music, including reviews, 1971-1989.

Papers of Eliza Millard MacLoghlin, 1905-1928, comprising a collection of typescript poems by MacLoghlin, titled Sir, What are these? and dedicated to "My Niece, Aileen Millard"; 10 manuscripts of music written by W G Cook, for songs based on MacLoghlin's poetry, c 1927-1928; and 4 cards and letters, c 1905.

Papers of Basil Lam, comprising typescripts and photocopies of BBC radio talks, 1963-1979, mostly relating to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, and including transcripts of his BBC Radio 3 series 'Plainsong and the rise of European music', 1978-1979; with press cuttings and concert programmes; typescripts, carbon copies and photocopies of concert programme and record sleeve notes by Lam, with concert programmes, mainly relating to performances of early and baroque music (particularly the works of Bach, Handel and Claudio Monteverdi), and including some BBC radio talks, articles for The Listener, and Promenade Concerts series programme notes, 1962-1981; cuttings (mostly Radio Times), relating to programmes featuring or of interest to Lam, and related programmes and handbills, including programmes for concerts by the Basil Lam Sonata Ensemble, 1946-1954; correspondence of Stroma Sutherland, Lam's executor, on publication of an article by Lam from material left unfinished at his death, on the 'Kyrie' from the B Minor Mass by J S Bach, 1985-1989; edition of The Listener containing `The ascendancy of plainsong', article by Lam, 15 Dec 1977; index to radio talks and programme/record sleeve notes.

Papers of Charles Herbert Kitson, comprising notebook containing manuscript notes on lecture on instrumentation, including orchestration and harmony, and lecture on extensions of principles of chord formation and chord progression, undated; scrapbook of cuttings, postcards and manuscript reminiscences by Kitson on the Sinn Fein rising in Dublin, Ireland, Easter, 1916, as viewed from his home at 9 Mount Street Crescent, Dublin, mainly comprising daily entries of events by Kitson, 24 Apr-2 May 1916, and cuttings from The Irish Times.

Correspondence of Frank Howes, 1925-1951, comprising letter from Charles Sanford Terry (to H C Colles), enclosing Terry's edition of Coffee and Cupid (The Coffee Cantata): an Operetta by Johann Sebastian Bach (London, 1925); correspondence with Ernest Irving regarding Ralph Vaughan Williams' score for the film Scott of the Antarctic, and with Edward Joseph Dent on Gluck's Orfeo, and John Church's A Divine Hymn.

Papers of Herbert Howells, 1899-1978, including notes, manuscript drafts and typescripts of BBC talks and broadcasts (box B), including 'Music and the ordinary listener' (1937), 'Music and everyday life' (1938), 'The Three Choirs Festival in Elgar's time' (1960), tributes to Malcom Sargent (1965) and Sir William Harris (1973); manuscript notes for Royal College of Music (RCM) and University of London lectures (boxes C and D), 1940s-1950s, including talks on his work Sine Nomine (1922), Ivor Gurney (c1939), Hubert Parry (1968), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1972); notes and transcripts for his speeches to various organisations including the Incorporated Society of Musicians (1953), Worshipful Company of Musicians (1957), Royal College of Organists (1959); book of poetry copied on first anniversary of the death of his son Michael Howells, 1936; cuttings of articles by Howells in newspapers and journals, and by others on Howells' music and performances (boxes E and H); papers relating to the Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarships, and notebooks containing Howell's adjudications with draft reports (box F); appointment diaries, 1955,1956 and 1973, address books of Herbert and Dorothy Howells, and printed concert programmes with notes written by Howells (box G), RCM student essays on Howells' music; letters received by Howells from over 260 correspondents, 1915-1978, with particular accumulations from Charles Bathurst Viscount Bledisloe, Sir Arthur and Trudy Bliss, Sir Adrian Boult, Robert Thurston Dart, Sybil Eaton, Gerald and Joy Finzi, Harry Plunket Greene, Walter de la Mare, Sir Hubert Parry, William Rothenstein, Marion Scott, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and others including Sir John Barbirolli, Arnold Bax, Nadia Boulanger, Benjamin Britten, Neville Cardus, Aaron Copland, Sir Henry Walford Davies, Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Keith Falkner, Guido Gatti, Edward Health, Gustav Holst, Joseph Horovitz, Zoltán Kodály, Cecil Day-Lewis, Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Pears, Edmund Rubbra, Harold Watkins Shaw, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Sybil Thorndike and Michael Tippett; correspondence relating to his medical condition (1917), with Oxford colleges, with publishers and commissioning bodies, on his Cambridge Doctorate; photocopies of letters from Howells to 30 correspondents, including those already mentioned and to the Carnegie UK Trust; family correspondence (box A).

Papers of Alfred James Hipkins, comprising notebooks and scrapbooks compiled with the help of his daughter Edith, proofs, manuscripts, publications and some letters dealing with Hipkins' interest in musical matters particularly pitch and the history of instruments, [1862-1901].

The David Heneker Archive contains the working papers of musical theatre composer David Heneker, who wrote or contributed to several well known musicals incluing 'Half a Sixpence' and 'Charlie Girl'. The Archive contains materials relating to each of the shows David Heneker worked on including drafts of songs and scripts, musicals scores, correspondence and publicity. There is also material relating to his work as a songwriter in the 1930s and 1940s (including the Second World War), and his work for films and advertising. There are also materials relating to shows and films that David Heneker worked on that never reached the final production stage.

The archive includes field recordings, papers, drafts of articles, notebooks and a set of index cards from Kenneth A Gourlay's ethnomusicological research on the musical cultures of the Karamojong of Uganda, in Nigeria and in Papua New Guinea.

Volume of writings [c1879-1880] by Carl Engel entitled 'Musical Antiquities and Studies', containing manuscript autobiographical preface and list of his works; printed article 'Music of the Gypsies'; printed article 'Some Account of the Clavichord with Historical Notes'; manuscript 'The Music of the Assyrians'; manuscript 'Aeolian Music'; manuscript 'Testimonies to the artistic value of National Music'; manuscript 'English Musical Dictionaries'; manuscript 'The Unknown Great'; manuscript 'The First Attempt'.

Papers of Edward George Dannreuther, 1900-1904, including manuscript of 'Bach's chamber music', undated; typescript and manuscript notes of 'The Romantic movement from Weber to Wagner', published as 'The Romantic period', volume 6 of the Oxford History of Music (1905); manuscripts by Dannreuther of various works by Franz Liszt and part of 'L'enfance du Christ' by Hector Berlioz; manuscript music by James Friskin (1886-1967), student of Dannreuther; notebook of Edward Dannreuther, recording names of his pupils and pieces of music each was studying, 1900-1904 (MS 1083).

Minute book of the Concentores Society, glee club.

Papers of Henry Cope Colles, 1938-1939, as editor of the Fourth edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillans, London, 1940), comprising correspondence with contributors of articles and subjects of articles, including particular accumulations of correspondence with Eric Blom: Alfredo Casella: Sir Henry Walford Davies; Richard Capell; Alfred Einstein; Edwin Evans; Arthur Henry Fox Strangways; Francis William Galpin; Anselm Hughes; Macario Santiago Kastner; Alfred Loewenberg; Gustave Reese; Percy Alfred Scholes; Marion Margaret Scott; John Brande Trend.

Papers of Frederic Cliffe, comprising cuttings and correspondence, Feb 1908, regarding Cliffe's letter to The Daily Telegraph, advocating the performance of opera in the English language, and the establishment of a national opera house, 11 Feb 1908; Cliffe's reports as examiner on compositions of students at the Royal College of Music, 1907-1908; agreement with Novello & Co for publication of his 'Ode to the North East Wind', 1905; marriage certificate, 1897; Freemason's certificates, 1895 (MS 6870). Letters (c25) to Cliffe, 1889-1929, including from Sir George Grove and August Manns on performance of Cliffe's symphony for Crystal Palace, 1889; from C V Stanford, regarding submission of Cliffe's work for the Leeds Festival, 1901; from Hubert H Parry recommending Cliffe for appointment as Principal of the Guildhall School of Music, 1910; from Sir Hugh Allen, on Cliffe's retirement from the RCM, 1929 (MS 6871).

Records of the City Glee Club comprise: minutes, accounts, registers of members and performances, and records relating to the centenary.

Papers, c1932-1961, of Dr Arnold Adrian Baké, comprising notes on Indian music and folklore, in addition to songs in various Indian languages and translations in English and Dutch.

Papers of Herbert Kennedy (H K) Andrews, 1950-1965, comprising typescript and proofs of his The Technique of Byrd's Vocal Polyphony (Oxford University Press, London, 1966); papers, 1957, relating to 'Fourteenth-Century Polyphony in a Fountains Abbey MS Book', Music and Letters, 39 (1958) by Andrews and Robert Thurston Dart, with offprints of article, correspondence between Andrews, Dart and Eric Blom, editor of Music and Letters, and including photographs of Fountains Abbey Ms 23; typescript notes and correspondence, 1963-1965, regarding the music publications of William Byrd and library sources of the same, with offprints and notes relating to Andrews' article, 'Printed Sources of William Byrd's ''Psalmes, Sonets and Songs''', Music and Letters, 44 (1963), and including a photocopy of the superius part book of Cantiones sacrae by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd (1575); notes and correspondence with Dart, 1960, regarding A ballet on the death of the cardynall', manuscript in Ripon Cathedral Library, with transcriptions and photographs of the manuscript; typescript of his articleCounterpoint, harmony and tonality' for the Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia, with related correspondence on the withdrawal by Andrews on its publication, 1953; typescript of his The formation, fulfilment and decline of the classical language of music', Cramb lectures, University of Glasgow, 1954; manuscript of hisThe interpretation of 16th century polyphony', Crees lectures, 1963; manuscript and typescript of `The editing and perfomrance of English vocal polyphony of the late 16th century and early 17th century, first chapter only of an unpublished book.