This series contains paper and electronic work files, sheet music, video and sound recordings related to Polansky's original compositions and arrangements dating from the mid-1970s to 2013. His work files illustrate the creative workflow of composing contemporary musical compositions through handwritten drafts, master copies of works, edited scores with performance notes and directions, computer program reports, and differing versions of pieces which were altered over the years. This series contains a significant amount of work files for Lonesome Road (The Crawford Variations), a set of variations by Polansky on a work by composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. This series also contains work files for Bedhaya Guthrie/Bedhaya Sadra; Four Voice Canon (numbers 2-22c); Jargon; Milwaukee Blues; Psaltery; Sasha's Song; Piano Study #5 and Yitgadal. Audio recordings of individual pieces including Four Voice Canons, Psaltery, Milwaukee Blues, and Sasha's Song can be found in this series. Other recordings of works can be found in Series IV. This series also contains Polansky's composition idea notebooks and handwritten untitled and unpublished sheet music.

This series contains ephemera documenting Polansky's career as a performer and lecturer through concert and event programs, flyers, announcements, posters, and audiovisual recordings. These events include solo and group concerts, performances of his works by others, as well as his appearances and participation in music-related conferences and festivals from the 1980s to the 2000s. This series also contains files Polansky had grouped himself by event, performance group, or subject, including topics such as dance, Gamelan music, an Australia concert tour, and Ostrava concerts. Files Polansky accumulated on groups he performed with include the New Kanon New Music Ensemble, the Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble, and DownTown Ensemble. Polansky also collected programs, announcements, calendars, and posters for Mills College and Dartmouth College performances dating from the 1980s to the 2000s, in which he was involved as a performer or organizer. Work files for select concerts, conferences, and festivals are described in Series V.

The series contains office files for Frog Peak Music, as well as the office and client files for Lingua Press, a company absorbed by Frog Peak Music in 1995. A small selection of files on Lingua Press founder Kenneth Gaburo can also be found in this series.

This series contains paper documents, electronic files, and sound recordings related to Polansky's numerous writings and projects. As a reviewer, editor, and writer, Polansky wrote frequently on topics related to modern music and composers. Writing files in this series typically contain correspondence, edited drafts, and published articles with a significant amount regarding the works and theories of composer James Tenney. This series contains a significant amount of project files for the Ruth Crawford Seeger-related book The Music of American Folk Song... (2001) which include research, edited drafts, correspondence, song transcriptions, and digitized Seeger family photographs. Planning files for Seeger-related concerts and events are also in this series. Polansky's work files on a Harry Partch music transcription project includes annotated sheet music, research, and notes dating from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Documentation in this series on the development of Hierarchical Music Specification Language (HMSL), a computer program Polansky co-wrote with Phil Burk and David Rosenboom while teaching at Mills College, includes grant requests, user manual drafts, presentation notes/slides, old source code, code logs, articles, and notes from the 1980s to the 2000s. Additional material on the Frog Peak Music publication of the HMSL user manual and promotion is in Series III.A. Sound recordings and computer files related to Eine Kleine Gamelan Music, a group project using HMSL, is also in this series. During 1988 and 1989, Polansky and Jody Diamond worked on a Gamelan music project in Indonesia with native composers and musicians. This project is documented through notebooks, studio recording logs, and audio recordings of recording sessions. Polansky and Diamond eventually produced albums from this project, including Asmat Dream, Mana 689, and Karya. Polansky's career as a recording artist is documented in this series through paper and computer files; audio recordings of studio sessions and practices; recording session notes and logs; cd images and promotional material; and contracts. Of note are his recording sessions from the late 1990s to early 2000s for his 51 Melodies album and improvisation sessions with his group,Trio, which includes fellow musicians Christian Wolff and Kui Dong.

This series includes material accumulated by Polansky while teaching at Mills College and Dartmouth College, as well as work files for external lectures, panels, and conferences he participated in. The Mills College files in this series contain lecture notes and slides for music theory and composition classes; planning notes for student concerts; class evaluations; and music department files. Audio recordings from 1981 to 1990 for the Mills College Contemporary Music Seminar in Formal Methods Series are also in this series. This series also contain Polansky's Dartmouth College Music Department files which include tests, class evaluations, tenure correspondence, and a poster for Polansky's 2013 retirement. Of note is correspondence, clippings, and student lists related to Polansky's class on American Sign Language (ASL) and poetry offered in the 1990s. Also included in this series are bound copies of course readings for classes from the 1990s and 2000s. Paper and electronic files for conference, festival, and lecture preparation material, notes, and slides can also be found in this series. Of note is International Computer Music Association/Conference material from the 1980s and 1990s. Concert ephemera for Mills College and Dartmouth College, as well as select conference and festival material can be found in Series II.

This series contains Polansky's correspondence and subject files, personal audiocassette collection, clippings, groups of backed up computer files, and an archived version of his website. Polansky's correspondence and subject files comprise a large portion of the paper files in this series, containing correspondence with colleagues and friends within the modern music field, including Christian Wolff, James Tenney, Kenneth Gaburo, and Anita Feldman. These files also contain Polansky's subject and research files on specific composers, theories, and funding ideas. This series contains a significant number of clippings from the 1970s to the 2000s on Polansky and his work, including profiles, reviews of albums and performances, and his work with Frog Peak Music. This series also contains Polansky's regularly backed up computer files which remain grouped by the date of the backup. Files found within these backups range in date from the 1980s to the 2000s, including a mixture of both personal and professional files. Personal computer files include correspondence and calendar entries, while professional-related materials include album recording information, teaching-related material, and other projects. His archived website includes a complete list of his scores, audio recordings, and document files including writings and special projects. Polansky's personal audiocassette collection contains commercial and homemade recordings of work by friends and colleagues, many of which are not widely distributed. These recordings range in date from the 1970s to 2000s. Polansky's audition and college senior concert audio recordings from the late 1970s can also be found in this series.