Series 1: Personal Files, 1964-1980: This series contains Professor Whitten's curriculum vitae and personal files (Professor Whitten's label) of correspondence arranged chronologically.
Series 2: Professional Papers, 1959-2013: This series contains correspondence, drafts, conference papers, lectures, course materials, meeting notes, anthropological association newsletters, and files relating to Professor Whitten's anthropological research on Ecuador, Nova Scotia, and the African Diaspora. Notably, this series also includes several of Dorothea S. Whitten's drafts, publications, conference presentations, and lectures. This series is organized alphabetically; courses are arranged by number and chronologically therein. Oversized materials are cross-referenced in folders and located in Box 14.
Series 3: Grant files, 1969-1999: This series contains grant applications, correspondence, and reports relating to the research of Norman and Dorothea Whitten, arranged alphabetically.
Series 4: Committees and Professional Service, 1966-2002: This series consists of correspondence, meeting notes, memos, reports, and schedules related to Norman Whitten's committee work and academic service. This series is arranged alphabetically.
Series 5: Exhibits, 1976-2011: This series contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and publicity materials related to museum exhibits and pottery demonstrations organized by Norman and Dorothea Whitten. This series is arranged chronologically.
Series 6: Publications, 1962-1993: This series contains articles authored and co-authored by Norman Whitten, arranged chronologically.
Series 7: Alfonso Chango Drawings and Papers, 1984-2009: This series consists of drawings by Alfonso Chango as well as relevant correspondence, newspaper clippings, and field notes. Alfonso Chango's book Yachaj Sami Yachachina is listed first, followed by his drawings, correspondence, clippings, and notes, all arranged chronologically.
Series 8: Research and Field Work, 1959-2018: This series is arranged by subseries according to the geographic areas in which Whitten organized his ethnographic research materials, including Nova Scotia, Canada, and its Black Canadian communities; San Lorenzo, Ecuador, and Colombia, and their Afro-Latin American peoples; and the Upper Amazonian Rainforest region of Ecuador and its indigenous Canelos Quichua communities. Date ranges are by Professor Whitten and are approximate. The materials in this series reflect Whitten's participant observation approaches, including field research notes and secondary research notes, genealogies, diagrams, maps, and correspondence. Additional examples include completed survey forms, children's drawings from a psychological test, and Spanish transcriptions of tape recordings of chigualos (wake ceremonies for young children) and arrullos (lullabies).