The Orwig Music Library’s physical sound recording collections include LPs, CDs, 45 and 78 rpm records, and thumb drives and cassettes. The chronological range is from the late 19th century to the present day. In addition, Orwig holds music-related DVDs including concert videos, dance videos, and video content for music teaching and research. Playback equipment for all media materials in the collection is available. (Please note that 78 rpm discs may be handled by staff members only.)

Orwig Music Library is Brown’s central point of collection for scholarship on music including music history, cultural study of music, music practice, composition and creative work, and sound studies in many formats from monographs to journals to collections of essays and more. Orwig also holds materials on adjacent fields such as dance, and scholarship related to the interdisciplinary interests of the music department including ecology, legal studies, acoustics, hip-hop culture, and more.

Orwig is home to some special collections material, though the main archival collections in music are held at the John Hay Library and the John Carter Brown Library. The Loraine Wyman Collection includes manuscripts and collections from early 20th century ethnomusicologist Loraine Wyman. The Brown Performance Archive is a partial collection of recordings and other materials related to historical musical performances at Brown. The James Koetting Collection, Tom Carter Collection, and Deborah Waldman Collection are collections of original field recordings and similar materials deposited by scholars who have worked at Brown. 

Orwig’s special collections materials must be used on-site and may require special handling from staff members.

The John Hay Library has a collection of more than 500,000 pieces of American sheet music including sections of American vocal music from the 18th century to the present with a focus on popular music of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as British and American instrumental music (mostly 19th century piano music). Also of note is the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, which includes more than 17,000 music-related works dating from the 17th century to the present with a particular focus on African-Americana.

Other special collections in the John Hay Library contain music as well, notably the McLellan Lincoln Collection and the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. 

The John Carter Brown Library also has rare materials related to music in the colonial period in the Americas.