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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).

The collection consists of annotated programs for performances recorded by the Hartt Recording Studio as well as a number of the recordings. The annotations primarily provide the identification number(s) of the corresponding analog recordings, as well as corrections or changes to the printed program and the start and stop times of different portions of the performances on the recordings.