John Maxwell Geddes, composer, was born in Glasgow on 26 May 1941, the son of John ('Jack') Drummond Geddes and Thomasina Geddes, née Maxwell. He grew up in the Maryhill area of Glasgow and attended Woodside Secondary School and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). He also studied with the Danish pianist and composer Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919-2000) in Copenhagen.

Geddes was awarded the fellowship of the RSAMD, the Creative Scotland Award, and a posthumous Doctorate of Music by the University of Glasgow. Throughout his life he was a prolific composer, teacher and conductor, especially of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and actively promoted Scottish classical music on an international level. He died on 7 September 2017.

The collection documents all aspects of Geddes's professional life, his works, performances and international activities. It contains manuscript, draft and published versions of his works, chronological scrapbooks (the contents now placed in folders), programme notes, cuttings of newspaper reviews, leaflets, posters and photographs.