The John Francis Stimson papers include manuscripts, transcripts, pre-publication materials, and photographs collected by J. Frank Stimson in his research on the Paʻumotu (Tuamotu people) culture. It includes material from several authors and spans a period of about twenty years from the early 1930s through the 1950s. The majority of the collection consists of original documents used by Stimson in his research and writing; several documents have been rearranged, relabeled, and corrected several times by Stimson. The original order of the page numbers has been preserved wherever possible, however, the overarching method of organization is first by type of material and then by author. When multiple versions of the same publication are present, each document is listed without implication as to order written.

The collection has been organized into six series, the first three of which contain manuscripts and transcripts written in Paʻumotu (Tuamotuan) by the Indigenous people that Stimson was working with. Series four through six consist of the research, notes, and pre-publication materials produced by Stimson and his colleagues.

Series I. Indigenous Manuscripts consists of manuscript memo books and loose-leaf notes written by indigenous people who Stimson interviewed. The series was organized chronologically based on time of the interview with the individuals. Many of the memo books also include a table of contents on the cover or first page. The material with unknown authors was kept at the end of the series.

Series II. Indigenous Transcripts consists of the typed transcripts of the notebooks and notes in previous series. There are also several folders of materials whose author was not marked and these are included at the end of the series and are arranged, whenever possible, by island of origin. Page numbers included are based on Stimson's system which does not run consecutively. Folders labeled Index appear to be notes collected by Emory by informants.

Series III. John F. Stimson Material consists of Stimson's writing, including several versions of his writings on the Kiho cult, his editors' notes, as well as translated and annotated chants, myths, and legends. It also includes a folder of correspondence to his mother, sister, and other individuals. This series also includes dictionaries of the Paʻumotu (Tuamotuan) and [Raivavae] languages; originally these were housed in card catalogs. Stimson also kept a reference card catalog of people, places, research notes, and secondary sources; this material was removed from the original card catalog and placed in boxes, but kept in the original order.

Series IV. Kenneth P. Emory Material consists of four folders of notes and research collected by Emory.

Series V. Related Authors Material consists of material written by various authors and collected by Stimson. This material relates to Stimson's Polynesian research. Included within this series are notes on the island of Raivavae by Susanne McConnaughey, who also contributed to Stimson's publication Songs and Tales of the Sea Kings.

Series VI. Photographs is a collection of photographs taken primarily by Kenneth Emory and which were mostly numbered but otherwise unlabeled.