The Dayton Civic Theatre was founded and directed by Edmund C. Wilkes. Most productions were performed at the Dayton Art Institute Auditorium by the Phoenix Players professional theatre company. The scrapbook primarily contains original photographs, programs, and news clippings, as well as some other original documents.

The collection consists of a single scrapbook containing clippings, original materials (such as programs and correspondence), and occasional handwritten commentary, mostly focused on Dayton's classical music scene in the 1930s and 1940s. Eleanor McCann was the music director at the Dayton Art Institute at the time.