Jimmy Van Heusen was born in Syracuse, New York in 1913 as Edward Chester Babcock. He adopted his professional name at the age of 15 when he became a part time radio announcer. "Van Heusen" was taken from the name of the shirt company. In 1938, while working for Remick Publishing, Inc., Van Heusen met Jimmy Dorsey and wrote his first hit "It's the Dreamer in Me". This commenced his three-decade long career writing Tin Pan Alley hits, movie and show tunes. He won Oscars for "Swinging on a Star", "High Hopes", and "Call Me Irresponsible", and an Emmy for "Love and Marriage". Van Heusen wrote most of his songs with two prominent lyricists - Johnny Burke and Sammy Cahn, many of which were written for the two baritones Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Jimmy Van Heusen died in 1990.
The collection was donated by Van Heusen's widow, Josephine Babcock in June, 1994. In large part the collection consists of published sheet music and manuscripts. His collection of sound recordings comprises popular LPs of his songs and of others' of his era and reel-to-reel tapes of LPs as well as home recordings. The collection contains his personal papers and business documents relating to his publishing companies Burke and Van Heusen, Van Heusen Music Corp., Burvan, and St. James. His career was documented in works lists, programs, clippings, biographies, and professionally assembled scrapbooks. Also included are items related to his hobbies of horses and flying.