The L.L. Waters papers span the years 1921-1994 and are organized into five series: Correspondence, Teaching, Professional organizations and conferences, Consulting, and Scholarship and publications.

The first series, Correspondence, is further organized into two subseries: General correspondence and Administrative and interdepartmental correspondence. With correspondence spanning the period from 1939 to 1994, the General correspondence subseries is arranged chronologically and within folders alphabetically by the correspondent's surname. The correspondence in this series reflects Waters' active professional life and includes notes from many professional contacts pertaining to transportation-related issues, research, conferences, and publications. Most of the correspondence is with Waters' colleagues outside of Indiana University, but not exclusively. Frequent correspondents include William Buchanan, general manager of the Louisville, New Albany & Corydon Railroad Company, as well as other leaders in transportation companies. Other frequent correspondents include fellow faculty in business and related fields throughout the country, particularly colleagues from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, such as Ethan Allen and Frank Stockton. The Administrative and interdepartmental correspondence subseries (1950-1994) is arranged alphabetically by folder heading. This subseries contains a large amount of interdepartmental correspondence spanning the period from 1950 to 1977. Correspondence relating to Waters duties as coordinator of the European Productivity Agency program at IU can be found within these files. Items with student grades and recommendations have been removed. A small sample of recommendation letters have been retained but are restricted at this time and have been physically placed at the end of the collection.

Teaching is a brief series with materials dating from 1936-1971. Items such as exam questions, reading lists, bibliographies and early student evaluations of Waters' teaching can be found in this series. Files are arranged alphabetically by folder heading. A small sample of recommendation letters have been retained but are restricted at this time and have been physically placed at the end of the collection.

The Professional organizations and conferences series spans the years 1949-1994. It is arranged alphabetically by organization or conference name. The bulk of the material in this series pertains to conferences, and includes submitted papers, conference schedules, and correspondence regarding conference planning. Materials related to the Indiana University International Business Forum makes up a sizable portion of the subseries. Correspondence, newsletters, meeting minutes and other materials relating to the American Society of Traffic and Transportation and the Midwest Business Administration Association can also be located in this series.

The Consulting series is dated 1948-1987 and is arranged alphabetically by organization name. Organizations represented include the National Defense Transportation Association, the University of Tennessee, and the World Bank. Included are reports by Waters and his colleagues, correspondence, and research material.

The final series, Scholarship and publications, is further organized into three subseries: Research material and correspondence related to publications, Manuscripts, and Publications. The Research material and correspondence subseries is dated 1921-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1940s. It primarily contains correspondence and news clippings related to research projects such as the Santa Fe Railroad and research for the book Energy to Move. The second subseries, Manuscripts, is arranged alphabetically by folder heading and contains typescripts of articles, papers, reviews, and speeches by Waters from the years 1934-1991. This subseries also contains the manuscripts of two books, Investments and Transportation in Indiana. In addition, there is one folder of typed and handwritten papers written by Waters as a student. The Publications subseries spans the period from 1936 to 1991. It is arranged alphabetically by type of publication. Included are articles and monographs, book reviews, and books, including Waters' Energy to Move and Steel Rails to Santa Fe, as well as both his master's and Ph.D. theses. There are also bound issues of Your Business from the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Kansas, which Waters directed from 1939-1948. Some issues contain articles by Waters, but many do not. The books within the publications subseries are arranged chronologically.