The papers of James B. Christoph span the years from 1959-1998 and are organized into three series: Correspondence, Teaching and professional activities, and Subject files.

The Correspondence series includes correspondence spanning the period from 1961-1998, some of which predates Christoph's time at Indiana University. The bulk of this correspondence is arranged by year, though a portion of it is arranged alphabetically by subject. The correspondents and topics within the correspondence vary widely, but recurrent subjects include: publications and editorial comments, research projects, and political science and West European studies department matters. There are also many letters from Christoph's students and former students. Student evaluations and recommendations written by Christoph have been removed from the correspondence folders and are restricted.

The next series, Teaching and professional activities, is dated 1962-1996. It is further organized into 3 subseries, which are Course materials and notes, Faculty annual reports and Academic projects and lectures. Items in the Course materials and notes subseries are dated 1969-1996 and are arranged alphabetically by course title or folder heading and consist of Christoph's lecture notes, exam questions, syllabi, and other handouts for the students. Materials containing student grades have been removed from these folders. Included in the second subseries, Faculty annual reports, are Christoph's annual reports from 1967-1995. These describe in detail his professional activities and accomplishments. Many of the folders also include evidence of these activities and accomplishments, such as letters and announcements. Dated 1962-1996, the Academic projects and lectures subseries contains materials pertaining to conference and seminar presentations and reviews of his book Capital Punishment and British Politics. Also included are correspondence and interview notes for a research project which explored changes in the outlook and roles of senior British civil servants in the late 1980s.

The Subject files series spans the years 1959-1996 and is arranged alphabetically by folder heading. This small series includes items on varying topics, such as political pamphlets and fliers from British parliamentary elections and materials collected by Christoph about the National Endowment for the Arts.