The collection consists of 2018 slides of jazz musicians; jazz documentaries and interviews with famous jazz musicians on audio tapes; a well-written and entertaining autobiography; course syllabi; two articles and miscellaneous typescripts by Sales; and writings about him.

Grover Sales was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1920. After serving in the Army Air Corps in Southeast Asia during World War II he studied at Reed College, Portland, Oregon and later at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his BA in history. In his fifty-year career as a jazz critic he was known for his strongly opinionated and literate writing. Sales also wrote about film and cultural politics. His books include Jazz: America's Classical Music, a biography of John Maher, and the very successful book he co-authored with his wife, The Clay-Pot Cookbook. He taught jazz history for several years at Stanford University, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory, and the Jazz school. Sales also worked as the publicist for the Monterey Jazz Festival from 1958 to 1965. Grover Sales died in 2004.

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