Series I. Vocal Music includes all the manuscripts containing parts for voice.

Subseries A. Accompanied comprises all manuscripts for voice with accompaniment whether organ, piano or unknown keyboard; and manuscripts containing a mix of songs and instrumental tunes.

Subseries B. Unaccompanied contains all the manuscripts notated for one or more voices without instrumental accompaniment. Manuscripts containing a mix of accompanied and unaccompanied works have been classed as accompanied. This distinction reflects the historical shift from sacred choral music without accompaniment, preferred by the area's first European settlers, to choral music with organ.

Regarding the printed item, William Billings's "The Lark" and "The Bird" (2 leaves, engraved by John Norman), bound in at back of "Choir singer's part book" manuscript (Box 3, Folder 8), only seven other copies of this item are listed in Britton, Lowens, and Crawford's American Sacred Music Imprints, 1698-1810 (American Antiquarian Society, 1990; see no. 103), and this is the only located copy not bound with a full-length Billings tunebook; it also appears to be the only located copy with the two pieces in this order.