This series contains manuscripts and papers authored by Johnson, either solely or in collaboration with others, often with associated correspondence and documentation. Some of the manuscripts are in draft form and some in published form. In some cases various drafts of the same paper are included. The papers cover a range of topics, including the archaeology of Australian Aboriginal living sites in Central Australia, the mineralogical and geological characteristics of various locations, the distribution of australites, and the minerals of South Australia.

This series also includes a number of drafts and a significant amount of working notes and other documentation relating to the Catalogue of South Australian Minerals, the major research project of Johnson’s later years. He died in the week it was published and he never saw the published version.