The Virgil Thomson Collection in the LaBudde Special Collections is one of two locations which house the Virgil Thomson’s Papers. The bulk of Thomson’s Papers is located at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library at Yale University.

The collection located at UMKC was a gift of John Obetz, originally given to the UMKC Conservatory of Music Library, formerly located in Grant Hall. The collection contains portions of Thomson’s career and personal life. Correspondence between Thomson, Mary Weaver and John Obetz are included in this collection. There are approximately 67 black & white photographs, consisting mostly of portraits and family photographs. A highlight of the collection is the various artwork with several portraits of Thomson. One interesting work by Frederic James, Calvary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, was painted for Virgil Thomson. In contrast, the collection holds the musical composition Portrait of Frederic James, by Virgil Thomson. Also included in the collection are numerous programs, news clippings, and miscellaneous publications.

The audiovisual collection consists of a small amount of commercially-released recordings on LP format. Recordings from the collection are searchable in the UMKC Libraries catalog. Cataloged Sound Recordings from the Virgil Thomson Collection