MS 8648 comprises diaries, correspondence, biographical notes, concert programs, scrapbooks, press cuttings, photographs, music scores, teaching material for the Victorian College of the Arts, speeches and other papers. The papers relate mainly to Dame Joan's career as an opera singer and teacher, but also cover such topics as Presbyterian Ladies' College, Pymble, the loss of Dame Joan's house in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, the Australian Opera, Victoria State Opera, golf, and Dame Joan's friendship with Lolita Marriott.