The papers of Thomas Sample Turner relate to his career as a composer of music at the University of Iowa. His eight compositions span his career from the mid-1930s until his retirement in 1982. The collection fills nineteen boxes with musical scores, conductor's copies, audio reels, cassette tapes, microfilm, a songbook, handbooks, class lecture notes, playbills, B.A. and M.A. diplomas, and art work by Alice Turner.