Music was an integral component of the activities provided at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. The Temple of Music was the principal venue for music performance. It was designed by architect August C. Esenwein and featured an organ built by Emmons Howard. More than seventy renowned organists performed on the Temple instrument during the course of the Exposition.

Music was also performed at five bandstands located on Exposition grounds: the Plaza bandstand north of the Electric Tower, the East and West bandstands in the Esplanade near the Temple of Music and Ethnology Building, the Casino bandstand on the shore of the lake close to where the Casino building stands today, and another bandstand on the lake near what is now the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The heavy schedule of band performances by more than twenty-six different bands kept these bandstands in almost constant use throughout the Exposition.

The Midway also served as a venue for performances of music, including an assortment of music from different cultures. These included representatives from Africa, the Middle-East, Hawaii, Mexico, Italy, Germany, and Puerto Rico. For many visitors to the Exposition, it was their first opportunity to experience anything of these cultures.

The collection contains fifty images collected or reproduced for use in the Music Library exhibition, Music and Musicians at the Pan-American Exposition . This exhibition, displayed in the Music Library June-September 2001, was part of the larger, University Libraries exhibition, Illuminations: Revisiting the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition of 1901.

There are only four original items in the collection: two postcards of the Temple of Music, an informal photograph of the interior of the Temple of Music, and a digital photograph of the piano that was housed in the New York State Building, now the home of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.

Complete details about the collection can be found in the finding aid for the collection.