This collection consists of handwritten journals, typed memoirs, correspondence, class notes, handwritten and typed papers and sermons, newspaper clippings and a printed memoir. The material is divided into eight sub-series: Biographical, Calendars and schedules, Class and miscellaneous notes, Papers and other writings, Reflections - journals, Reflections and letters, Sermons and prayers, and Miscellaneous. The first sub-series contains biographical information about James C. Whitaker. The material includes his own description of his papers and spiritual journey, a resume, transcripts, and Whitaker's obituary, funeral program and a copy of the eulogy delivered at his funeral. The second sub-series consists of Whitaker's handwritten schedules and a set of small pocket calendars he used from 1961-1997. Class and miscellaneous notes is a larger sub-series that contains spiral bound notebooks with Whitaker's class notes from 1961 to 1985. Researchers must note that he recycled these notebooks so a notebook may contain class notes from the 1960s and class notes from the 1980s. He also used his class notebooks for church meeting notes and study group notes. Most of the notes are dated but in a few cases it is difficult to determine when or for what event notes were taken. Between 1982 and 1985 Whitaker was enrolled in psychology and counseling courses. These courses included practicums in which he counseled clients. The notebooks contained the names of his clients, information which cannot be made public for legal reasons. Whitaker also wrote some of his most insightful reflections regarding his own mental and spiritual health in these same notebooks. The notebooks are restricted but photocopies with the full names of clients removed are available for researchers to use. The fourth sub-series consists of papers and other writings. These papers were primarily written to fulfill class assignments but a few papers were written for other reasons. This grouping also contains copies of the Counselor's Corner, a piece Whitaker wrote for his church newsletter, as well as some of his poetry and his collection of Soren Kierkegaard quotes. The heart of the collection is contained in sub-series five and six. Whitaker began writing his reflections on his theology and what he learned in his reading and course work in 1946. The first sub-series consists of his journals and the chaplain's log he maintained in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1945. He began writing his reflections in small pocket-size spiral notebooks. In the early 1970's he switched to notebook paper size spiral notebooks, however, the format change was not consistent. Researchers may have to switch between notebooks to follow his line of thought although in some cases it appears that Whitaker wrote on different subjects in different notebooks. Names of his counseling clients also appear in Whitaker's journal from 1982 to 1985, but the names are not used as frequently as in the class notes. For this reason, only the pages that contain confidential names were removed from the notebooks and replaced with photocopies with the names removed. The journals sub-series also contains a two volume work of Whitaker's reflections entitled On Becoming One's Own Self: Reflected Existence, edited by Henri N. Levinspuhl. The sixth sub-series continues the reflections in the form of letters and handwritten reflections on scrap or blank paper. In the 1990s Whitaker acquired a computer and began typing his reflections using a word processor. Printouts of his work are in the final folder. The seventh sub-series consists of Whitaker's sermons and prayers. The sermons are in two major groupings. The first group of sermons were handwritten and kept in small spiral notebooks and indexed by title and scripture. The second grouping are handwritten or typed sermons that were kept in folders. Most of the sermons are not dated and it is not apparent when or where they were preached. This sub-series also contains a small collection of written prayers for various occasions. The final sub-series is a group of miscellaneous material that consists primarily of clippings. There are considerable clippings and correspondence regarding Whitaker's role in the desegregation of public schools in New Orleans in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The remaining clippings are about Whitaker or church related events in the family's life in Louisiana, New Jersey, and Tennessee. Also included are photographs of James and Mozelle Whitaker and a Chinese tapestry that was given to Whitaker to use as an altar cloth when he was a Navy chaplain during World War II. The tapestry is approximately 200 years old.
