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The Curtis Davidson Collection comprises a number of recordings in reel-to-reel, cassette, and compact disc format. These recordings document performances of the Curtis Davidson Orchestra and Curtis Davidson and his Southerners from 1930-1980. The recordings are primarily of the genre called Dixieland jazz which was prominent in New Orleans and the Big Bend area during this time. Davidson spent his nights playing throughout the southeast. He was interested in recording and many of these gigs were recorded on his own Wollensak tape recorder. These reel-to-reel recordings hold a prominent position in the collection. Some recordings feature former FSU professor of piano Dr. Robert Glotzbach and meteorologist Bill Ragsdale, who was known as "Willie the Weatherman."

This collection contains papers pertaining to Ensign Dae D. Baird, Jr. and his experiences as a Merchant Marine during World War II.The papers include photographs, letters, speeches, biographical articles, and military documents.

The Dale A. Olsen Collection consists of over 800 audio and visual items that span Dr. Olsen's career as a researcher and educator from 1965 to 2007. They contain a variety of music from Japan, China, Indonesia, Persia, Africa, Ireland, South America, the Caribbean, and North America. While most of the recordings chronicle Dr. Olsen's extensive fieldwork in South America with Japanese immigrants and Warao Indians, other recordings include concerts by FSU world music ensembles, student and guest lectures, other special events and ceremonies, private gatherings at home, and even a handful of commercial recordings. About 80 of the reel-to-reel recordings were actually used as audio examples for Olsen's study of the connection of indigenous tribes to their environment, Music of the Warao of Venezuela: Song People of the Rain Forest, winner of the 1997 Alan P. Merriam Prize for "Most Outstanding Book in Ethnomusicology."