David Saperton was an American pianist, composer, and teacher who notably performed and recorded much of the music of his father-in-law, renowned pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky. The papers include Saperton’s music manuscripts, correspondence, and several photographs he collected.

Frederick Werlé (1910-1997) was a composer, music teacher, and a former dean of the Mannes College of Music. His papers primarily consist of reel-to-reel and LP audio recordings and original music manuscripts. Also present in the collection are newspaper clippings, published music scores, concert programs, correspondence and notes.

Virtuoso pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) was noted for piano compositions and arrangements of exceptional difficulty, especially his 53 Studies on Chopin’s Études. The collection includes manuscripts of his works, sketches, corrected print proofs, and published scores with annotations and inscriptions by Godowsky and others related to him.

Leopold Mannes (1899-1964) was an American musician, educator, inventor, and son of the founders of the Mannes School of Music, David and Clara (Damrosch) Mannes. Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, Jr. invented Kodachrome color photography. Mannes became president of the Mannes School of Music in 1948. This collection contains music manuscripts of Mannes's compositions, including arrangements of pieces by other composers.

Menachem Zur (born 1942) is an Israeli composer who studied at Mannes College of Music (now, Mannes School of Music), and Columbia University. His compositions are influenced by modernism, post-tonal music, and set theory, as well as traditional Jewish music. The collection includes various chamber music scores by Zur, mostly in photocopy form, as well as a recording of several of his compositions.