The bulk of the Raymond Lyon Bowers papers consist of his original sheet music. The sheet music covers early compositions in school to later unpublished works. The music is either on loose paper or in composition notebooks. Bowers had numbered all of his sheet music and created a numerical list. This order has been maintained in the collection, with the exception of the materials on his opera, Legends of Alhambra. The materials relating to the opera have been pulled from the sheet music and placed in its own series. Unfortunately a few of Bowers' original compositions were not received with his collection, but these are in the minority.

The Bowers papers also contain some personal materials. There are diaries of Bowers that cover several years as well as some early schoolwork including papers and drawings. Included are some photographs of Bowers, as well as some family members, his grandparents' house in Newport, Rhode Island, and naval training exercises. There are also a number of slides showing a fishing trip, family members, stained glass windows, his 50th wedding anniversary in 1986, and rugs.