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The Duke Ellington Oral History is comprises ninety-two interviews with and about Ellington, one of America's greatest composers. Included among the interviewees are musicians, family members, friends, and colleagues.

The Aaron Copland Oral History comprises approximately 75 interviews with colleagues, friends, and family of Aaron Copland (note: for interviews with Copland himself, see the Major Figures in American Music collection). Oral History of American Music (OHAM) founder Vivian Perlis first became friends with Copland while working on the Charles Ives Oral History. Copland later wrote the preface for her book, Charles Ives Remembered. As the Ives project finished, Perlis focused on Copland as her new subject. From 1975 to 1976, she conducted many hours of interviews with Copland and those closest to him. Finally, in 1984 and 1989, their efforts culminated in the autobiographies, Copland: 1900 through 1942 and Copland: Since 1943, co-authored by Perlis.

The Charles Ives Oral History was the first documentary oral history of an American composer. Interviews with sixty people who knew and worked with Charles Ives were conducted between 1968 and 1971, and this project was the impetus for the founding of Oral History of American Music (OHAM). Family, friends, neighbors, business associates, and musicians reminisce about one of the most significant artistic figures of the century. The project formed the basis of the award-winning book by Vivian Perlis, Charles Ives Remembered: An Oral History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974, and subsequently reprinted). Excerpts from the taped interviews were used in a five record package, "Charles Ives 100th Anniversary" (1974) and in a film documentary, "A Good Dissonance Like a Man" (1977).

Major Figures in American Music is the core unit of Oral History of American Music. It consists of over 1000 interviews with composers, performers, and other significant musicians. The first subjects were those most fragile in terms of age and health, such as Eubie Blake, Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland, Harry Partch, Charles Seeger, Claire Reis, and Virgil Thomson. Among other senior composers interviewed during the OHAM's first decade were John Cage, Lou Harrison, Ernst Krenek, Leo Ornstein, and William Schuman. As OHAM proceeded, composers actively involved in their careers were included and have been updated periodically. To name a few: John Adams, Anthony Braxton, David Del Tredici, Lukas Foss, David Lang, Steve Reich, and Julia Wolfe. OHAM's program also includes oral histories with emerging young talents, with the plan to track their careers as they unfold in the future. In addition to interviews with primary subjects, the core unit includes testimonies from secondary sources about George Gershwin, Henry Cowell, Harry Lawrence Freeman, Percy Grainger, and Arnold Schoenberg.

The Steinway & Sons Oral History traces the history of Steinway & Sons, one of the preeminent manufacturers of pianos, from its years as a family business until its acquisition by CBS in 1972. One-hundred twenty interviews provide a multi-level look at a major musical institution that has made a significant impact on musical culture in the United States and abroad. Interviewees include Steinway family members, piano technicians, factory workers, Steinway agents, and concert pianists.