Most of the personal papers date from Furman’s years at Western Connecticut State University. The correspondence includes a series of letters concerning AAMOA (the Afro-American Music Opportunities Association) and a few letters from gospel artists, particularly Beverly Glenn. A speech, “My Development as a Composer” and notes on some of his compositions may be of particular interest.

The manuscript versions of the book on gospel were received in no discernible order. The decision was made to arrange them in the order indicated by the chapter outline prepared for interested publishers. Most chapters have typed versions with corrections, and handwritten drafts; in some cases there are also miscellaneous fragments filed separately at the end of the chapter. Miscellaneous notes and fragments that could not be placed easily in any chapter are filed at the end of the series. A file on gospel performers contains both Furman’s stylistic analysis of certain performers, particularly Andrae Crouch and Mahalia Jackson, and also some questionnaires filled out by musicians. Along with the unsorted manuscript materials, three typescript versions of the book were also received. All are slightly different. The probable definitive version is bound in a looseleaf notebook with tabs indicating the chapters. Miscellaneous papers laid in to the front and back of this notebook have been removed to folders in Box 2 to ensure their preservation. His insights on performance practice may be of interest to researchers.

The musical works consist mainly of photocopies of manuscripts, some original manuscripts, and parts prepared by the composer for performances of his works. Two boxes contain duplicate choral parts to his I Have a Dream, which was never published. The score and instrumental parts are present in the collection although the string parts are lacking. A folder of published music is also included.