Professional and personal correspondence sent and received by James Walker to and from different people and organizations mostly before communications moved to an electronic medium. Includes correspondence related to his research, the University of Waterloo, programs and courses he taught at the University of Waterloo, events he attended and in which he participated, and correspondence from colleagues, friends, and students.

Materials related to James Walker's student life during his Master's degree at the University of Waterloo and his Ph.D. research and dissertation at Dalhousie University. Includes Walker's Master's thesis, essays written as a student, research notes with primary and secondary materials, correspondence with Dalhousie University Professor John E. Flint, and Walker's Ph.D. dissertation.
Also contains a report on the Dalhousie Ph.D. History program prepared by James Walker and Robert McCormack.

Materials related to James Walker's teaching life at the University of Waterloo. Includes seminar and lecture notes and scripts, course schedules and overviews, handouts for class, and printouts of courses for correspondence versions of the courses.
Codes and titles for courses changed throughout the years. Courses included are:

• “Black History” (course number unknown),
• “Minorities” (course number unknown),
• History 100 / 100T “Landmarks in World History”
• History 102 / 259 / 291 / 292 / 351A “African History,”
• History 103 / 104 “The emergence of the Third World,”
• History 107 / 204V / 221 / 226 / 227 / 228 "‘Race’ in Canadian History,”
• History 250 “The Art and Craft of History” and “Public History,”
• History 321 / 407A / 407B / 421 / 607 / 608 / 635 "‘Race’ in Modern History” and “Human rights in historical perspectives,”
• History 351 “Black History from Slavery to Revolution,”
• History 403A (course title unknown),
• History 411 (course title unknown),
• History 436 / 635 “Black History in North America,”
• History 601 “Canadian Social History,”
• History 650 / 651 “Public History and Public Policy,”
• Master's Field Seminar History 696,
• Seminar History 436 / 635 “Black History in North America,”
• Doctoral seminar History 717 “‘Race,’ Slavery & Imperialism.”

Materials related to the University of Waterloo administration and James Walker's involvement in it. Includes committee and department reports; meeting agendas and minutes; agreements with other institutions; organization of study programs, events, and conferences; reviews of programs and task forces; and related correspondence and ephemera.

Materials related to James Walker's writer and public speaker life. Includes printouts, drafts, summaries, and abstracts of presentations and guest lectures delivered by Walker in different events; various ephemera and correspondence related to those events; and writings and publications published by Walker as stand-alone texts or as part of encyclopedic works.