The eighteen boxes of the Margaret Graeme Canning collection contain a wealth of information about both Margaret Graeme herself and about her mother, Mary Margaret Hoskins Canning (Mary Margaret was usually called Margaret, and her daughter was known as Margaret Graeme in order to distinguish between them). Margaret Graeme's section of the collection is comprised primarily of opera programs and memorabilia pertaining to her various performances. These performances took place in multiple countries, including Germany, the United States, Bulgaria, and Belgium. Other items include reel-to-reel audio tapes of some of Margaret Graeme's performances, reviews of those performances, information about opera competitions, scrapbooks, correspondence, financial information, items from several educational institutions, and assorted other memorabilia. Margaret Hoskins Canning's portion of the collection contains University of Tennessee memorabilia, examples of her writing (dating primarily from her time at UT), genealogical information, scrapbooks dealing with several different phases of her life, and a wealth of correspondence.

In order to appreciate this collection, it is important to understand something of Margaret Graeme's voice. In the broadest possible terms, she was a soprano. The category of soprano, however, can be further subdivided into coloratura, lyric, spinto, and dramatic sopranos. Although she began her career as a spinto soprano, Margaret Graeme sang the majority of her performances as a dramatic soprano. The dramatic soprano (often associated with Wagner's operas) has the lowest, darkest, and most powerful voice among the sopranos, and so is able to make herself heard over large orchestras and other singers. Because of this ability, the dramatic soprano is often assigned to the most challenging roles, many of which are leads. As a spinto soprano, Margaret Graeme sang such parts as Cho-Cho San's mother in Madame Butterfly and Lenora in Il Trovatore. As a dramatic soprano, she sang such roles as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer, Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, Turnadot in Turnadot, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Judith in Herzog Blaubart's Burg, Tosca in Tosca, and Amelia in Maskenball. It should be noted that several of these roles, especially Amelia, Tosca, and Santuzza, can be sung by either dramatic or spinto sopranos, and there appears to be considerable disagreement as to exactly which type of voice each part is best suited to.