The first deposit was received in two official boxes (forming 17 archive boxes). One, McKenna's official despatch box, contained most of the Admiralty papers. The contents of this box had been listed, probably by the historical section of the Admiralty, in 1912, and a printed list (MCKN 3/1) was included (though this list is not entirely accurate). The other box was a tin one used by McKenna at the Home Office. It contained all the Fisher letters (MCKN 6), about five bundles of the Admiralty papers and the rest of the papers up to MCKN 7. Although the contents of this box had not been listed, the individual envelopes were marked quite clearly according to the contents. Any errors in the contents could usually be attributed to misplacement during the use made of these papers by scholars before they reached the College.

The most important part of McKenna's political career was confined to the nine years between April 1908, when he became First Lord of the Admiralty, and December 1916 when he resigned the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. These papers are only complete for the four years when he was First Lord, while including some papers from his time at the Board of Education, Home Office and Treasury. Many of the papers listed here seem to have been preserved at the request of Mrs. McKenna and, at the time of the initial deposit in 1966, it seemed unlikely that any other papers had survived.

The first deposit of McKenna’s papers was arranged in three main groups: Personal (MCKN 1) Public (MCKN 2 - 5) General (MCKN 6 - 7) Because the private correspondence of Admiral Lord Fisher with Mr. and Mrs. McKenna covers the entire period and a wide range of subjects, it was placed in the general group instead of the Admiralty papers. Otherwise the arrangement was chronological.

The second deposit of McKenna’s papers was very much larger than the first. These papers had been retained for many years by the historian Dr Martin Farr while he was working on a biography of McKenna, and it was difficult to see much original order remaining, particularly among the correspondence, much of which had to be reordered along chronological lines, with the exception of files of letters from particular individuals, such as Herbert Asquith. Some papers could be added to existing series, while new series were required for the correspondence, election material, photographs and Pamela McKenna’s journals, as MCKN 8-12. At the same time as these new papers were catalogued, the first deposit of the McKenna Papers was also given a more detailed listing.

Additions to existing series were made as follows: MCKN 1, Personal papers: files 1/4 - 1/27. MCKN 2, Education Board: file 2/2. MCKN 3, Admiralty: files 3/28 - 3/36. MCKN 4, Home Office: files 4/6 - 4/7. MCKN 5, Exchequer: files 5/11 - 5/14. MCKN 7, Later career: files 7/5 - 7/18.