One of the more unusual results of the first International Schenker Symposium, held at the Mannes College of Music in 1985, was the creation of a petition signed by over 300 people – attendees and their colleagues. Addressed to the New York Public Library, this petition was a request for making accessible to the public the Oster Collection – a major portion of Heinrich Schenker's papers. This impressive demonstration of academic support helped in the Library's efforts to obtain a preservation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1990 access to the collection has been provided not only for Library visitors, but also – by means of microfilm – for individuals and institutions throughout the world.

Heinrich Schenker's Nachlass, made available fifty-five years after the appearance of his last publication, has opened entirely new paths of access to the study of this unique individual and his theories. His archive, with its tens of thousands of documents, is a veritable treasure-trove of information. These papers will no doubt serve to inform, reshape, and redirect our thinking about Schenker and his theories; they may also influence the future course of the discipline, with Schenker source studies becoming a field in its own right. Even the most enthusiastic researcher, however, will encounter numerous problems. Not the least is Schenker's handwriting, which is often barely legible. The Nachlass's peculiar arrangement also portends some difficulties.