Clippings, programs, and memorabilia related to contemporary music in Chicago and around the world, and also reflecting Gleason's contributions to classical music from the 1860s through the early 1900s. Information about important composers (Wagner, Verdi) and musicians (Theodore Thomas, Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler, Adelina Patti, Lillian Russell) are prominent, as are events such as the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and music festivals such as the Chicago Opera Festival and May Festival. Topics of interest include a series of articles on the morality of ballet (Subseries 1, Vol. 5, Dec. 1886), and numerous clippings about Chicago music venues and organ construction and design in various buildings in the city.

Originally cataloged collectively as Case folio V 209. 34, the scrapbooks are now housed with the rest of the Frederic Grant Gleason material.

Many scrapbooks are in fragile condition and need to be handled carefully. The scrapbooks in the poorest conditions were disbound and refoldered and boxed.