Frances Klein (b. October 19, 1915) is a female jazz musician who began her career in the early 1930s. She played trumpet in a number of jazz bands, most notably the all-female bands led by Irene Vermillion and Ina Ray Hutton. The collection contains materials compiled by Klein from throughout her musical career, consisting of clippings, posters, programs, and photographs of Klein and many other contemporary musicians.

The Frances Klein Papers contains materials compiled by Klein that relate to her career as a jazz trumpet player. The collection contains newspaper clippings, concert programs, and other promotional materials related to Klein's musical career from 1933 to 2002, including items from her time with bands led by Irene Vermillion and Ina Ray Hutton along with advertisements for Klein's own bands. Additionally, the collection includes photographs and images primarily related to Klein's musical career. These photographs include candid images and a large number of publicity shots from contemporary colleagues of Klein, including Irene Vermillion and Ina Ray Hutton.

Johnny Long was a native of Newell, North Carolina and a student at Duke University from 1931 to 1935. In 1931, Long and ten other Duke freshmen formed the Duke Collegians Orchestra, later the Johnny Long Orchestra. Long and the Orchestra recorded several hits and performed at jazz venues around the country. Long continued to perform until his death in 1972. The scrapbook contains photographs, clippings, gig posters and advertisements, album liner notes, and other assorted memorabilia related to the Duke Collegians and the Johnny Long Orchestra and other big bands from North Carolina with inclusive dates 1931-1990.

The scrapbook, created by C. Shelby Dale (Duke '35), bass player and original member of the Orchestra, contains material pertaining to the career of Johnny Long with the Duke Collegians and the Johnny Long orchestra with the inclusive dates 1931 through 1973. Material includes photographs, clippings, gig posters and advertisements, album liner notes and other assorted memorabilia. Additional material also covers reunions of the surviving members of the Duke Collegians and the careers of other big bands and band leaders such as Les Brown and His Band of Renown (formerly the Duke Blue Devils), a 1936 graduate of Duke; Jelly Leftwich, the first Director of Duke's Department of Music and conductor of the Duke University Club Orchestra; Hal Kemp, leader of the Carolina Club Orchestra formed while a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Joseph Franklin "Sonny" Burke, a 1937 graduate of Duke and leader of the Duke Ambassadors.

Les Brown (1912-2001) was a 1936 graduate of Duke University, where he led the dance band the Duke Blue Devils. Under the name Les Brown and His Band of Renown, the band would achieve professional success in the 1940s and beyond, including a long tenure as Bob Hope's band. The Les Brown Scores Collection chiefly contains manuscripts of 329 jazz big band charts composed and/or arranged for Brown's band, the majority of which are undated, but with some dated between 1944 and 1953. While some charts comprise both a score and complete parts, most are either the score only or incomplete parts only. One additional folder contains a concert program and press clippings related to Brown's performance at Duke University in 1985.

The Les Brown Scores Collection (chiefly undated, but some dated between 1944 and 1953) has as its focal point manuscripts of 329 jazz big band charts composed and/or arranged for Brown's band. While some charts comprise both a score and complete parts, most are either the score only or incomplete parts only. One additional folder contains a concert program and press clippings related to Brown's performance at Duke University in 1985. The collection is arranged alphabetically by chart title.

Author Linda Dahl wrote the first full-length biography of jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and educator Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), titled Morning Glory: A Biography of Mary Lou Williams (1999). The Linda Dahl Collection on Mary Lou Williams contains materials compiled by Dahl in researching the Williams biography, including newspaper and magazine clippings, correspondence, photographs and transparency strips, concert programs, and a variety of financial and foundation records.

The Linda Dahl Collection on Mary Lou Williams contains materials compiled by Dahl in researching her 1999 biography of Williams. The collection features newspaper and magazine clippings on Williams; letters from Williams to her friend Joyce Breach regarding Williams's concert tours and other travels, Roman Catholicism, the business of jazz, and Williams's medical ailments; as well as letters to Breach from other of Williams's associates. One folder of miscellaneous correspondence by Williams primarily relates to the planning of jazz concerts and to Williams's work with the Bel Canto Foundation and the Charlie Parker Memorial Fund. The collection also contains a selection of records related to the Mary Lou Williams Foundation; thirteen photographs and four transparency strips of Williams; a folder of concert programs featuring Williams or her compositions; and six miscellaneous publications, primarily on music, from throughout Williams's lifetime.