The Willis Sylvester Quant Collection, housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections, was donated in October of 2017 to the University of Missouri-Kansas City by his sister Dorothy’s caretaker. It contains manuscript copies of over 30 piano, vocal, and string compositions by Quant. It also includes piano technique exercise manuals written by Quant.

The manuscript scores include dated (1964-1981) and undated works. The majority of the works are for piano, from beginner to advanced levels. There are a handful of works written for voice and a few for strings.

The collection houses piano pedagogy materials by Quant. He put together a collection of technique exercises for a student in 1984 which he titled Transcendental Studies for Piano Forte. Additionally, there are two manuscript copies of his book Beyond Notes, Keys and Fingers and Most Used Fundamentals and Exercises. The book is a manual on keyboard technique which aims to instruct pianists in playing with musical expression. It also discusses fundamental concepts of music theory and provides exercises to improve keyboard skill. There are also manuscripts and copies of original exercises Quant wrote for his students.

Quant also illustrated several musical cartoons which are found in the collection.