Programs and other materials for events taking place in the early years at Chicago's Auditorium Theater. Envisioned as a world-class theater and opera house by Chicago impresario Ferdinand Peck, the Adler and Sullivan-designed Auditorium opened in 1889 on the corner of Congress and Michigan Avenue.

Articles and reviews, correspondence, broadcast scripts, photographs, and clippings of the Chicago Tribune performing arts critic from 1942 to 1965. Cassidy wrote her influential "On the Aisle" column for the Tribune, then wrote freelance criticism and hosted a weekly program of arts criticism for WFMT, helping to shape the course of music, theater, and dance in Chicago.

Clippings, programs, artifacts, sheet music, photographs, and recordings of this Chicago composer, pianist, and music teacher. Collins, a pupil of Rudolph Ganz, was assistant conductor of the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, on the faculty at Chicago Musical College and later the American Conservatory of Music, and a prize-winning composer of symphonic works, piano concerti, chamber music, and songs. Recordings of his works and his performances are present in various formats.

Incoming correspondence to Frederick A. Stock, second conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Also photographs of Stock rehearsing at Interlochen Music Camp, early 1940s.

Personal papers and memorabilia of arts patron and impresario C. Geraldine Freund, who founded several music and dance series in Chicago from 1959 through 2000. Also writings and memorabilia of her husband J. Dennis Freund, a prominent psychiatrist who with his wife founded Chicago's Fairview Hospital.

Materials related to the theater career, business, and personal life of Chicago theater producer and philanthropist Hope Abelson, including scripts, theater mementos, correspondence, financial documents, photographs, audio recordings, and video recordings.

Irwin Fischer (1903-1977), composer, professor, conductor, and musician. Enjoyed a long career teaching at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Also worked as an organist for the Chicago Symphonic Orchestra and various churches, a conductor for the National Youth Symphony, South Side Symphony, and West Suburban Symphony. Known primarily for scores such as the Hungarian Set (Pearly Bouquet) and Symphony I.

Newspaper clippings, programs, reviews, forms, contracts, and tickets in three scrapbooks for the 22nd-24th year of this classical music festival held at Northwestern Illinois University for a week every summer since 1909. The festival featured members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with conductor Frederick Stock, and guest artists like Claire Dux, Percy Grainger, Lily Pons, and Ignaz Jan Paderewski.

Correspondence, photographs, reports, and publicity relating to the Ravinia Festival, a summer music festival held at Ravinia Park in Highland Park, Illinois, since 1904 (non-continuous).

Correspondence, mainly incoming, of Theodore Thomas, the first conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his wife Rose Fay Thomas; photographs of musicians; and a small collection of miscellaneous material relating to the Thomases.