Series consists of correspondence from fellow writers and scholars, and from other correspondents. It documents Johnston's career as a translator of Scandinavian literature, his relationships with various Scandinavian writers, and his associations with various societies. The correspondence also documents his career as a poet, relating to his published work, his involvement with the League of Canadian Poets, and his friendships with other writers.
Among the many correspondents are poets, novelists and artists, including Earle Birney, John Glassco, P.K. Page, Raymond Souster, Margaret Avison, Al Purdy, Marianne Brandis, Marianne Bluger, Colleen Reaney, D.G. Jones, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Philip Stratford, Carl Schaefer and Gerald Trottier, with extensive correspondence from Elizabeth Brewster and Jay Macpherson. There is correspondence from scholars, including Northrop Frye, W.J. Keith, Peyton Lyon and Barker Fairley, with extensive correspondence from William Blissett and George Whalley. There is also correspondence from Canadian publishers and editors, including John Flood and John Metcalf and there is interesting correspondence with Doris Cowan in which Johnston outlines his translation techniques. Finally, there is correspondence written to Johnston during the Second World War by an English friend, Anne Wilson.
Series also includes correspondence from Scandinavian writers, including Knut Odegard, Karsten Hoydal, Christian Matras, Olafur Johann Sigurdsson and Sigmund Mjelve, as well as correspondence from American poets Theodore Enslin and Cid Corman, British poet Gael Turnbull, British scholars Peter Foote and W. Glyn Jones, and Scottish author and poet, George MacKay Brown.
Series also includes a privately circulated booklet of poems 'From her friends in the west', written for Arlene Lampert by Patrick Lane, Lorna Crozier, P.K. Page, and others (and filed by Johnston under 'A'); a woodcut Christmas card from Fred Hagan along with a pane of four postage stamps issued in 1987 for the International Philatelic Exhibition in Toronto and signed by Hagan in 1986 and four postage stamps issued in 1988 as part of the Exploration of Canada series, all bearing his artwork; and proofs of fine printings of Johnston's poem 'Haste' and 'The Lay of Thrym' by Fred Louder.