The collection includes recorded interviews that Clark conducted with significant and influential African-American musicians, typed transcriptions of many of these interviews, copies of published articles, photographs, many of which were taken by Clark, correspondence, handwritten notes, research material (including clippings and promotional print material), and her collection of recordings.

Many of the individuals with whom Clark conducted interviews were musical pioneers, and the period in which the interviews took place was a time when American popular music was evolving rapidly. Clark's interviews with these artists provide a snapshot of many of them at their artistic and commercial peaks, and the questions she poses on such topics as the directions soul music was taking, the performers' relationship to their audiences, and the artists' reflections on other musicians (contemporary and past) provide considerable insight into the American musical landscape at that time. For a number of the musicians Clark interviewed, there are not many other recorded interviews in existence, and some of the musicians she interviewed are now deceased.