The Correspondence Series contains both professional and personal correspondence from elementary school through her career at Mount Holyoke College including letters to and from her parents, letters from her children, her husbands, friends, students and colleagues. There are some letters to her parents from other people and to each other.

Letters from the 1940s through 1954 mainly detail her life as a high school and college student through correspondence with her parents. This portion of the correspondence series is particularly extensive. Topics from this time period including her adjustment to the schools, her academic progress, her social life and her courtship with Harry Saunders Murphy, Jr.. There are also letters to her parents detailing her experiences living with the family of a wealthy doctor and then with the family of a miner during her 1950 trip to France through the "Experiment in International Living" program.

Letters from 1954 through the 1960s are mainly addressed to friends and family members and describe her adjustment to married life and motherhood, the difficulties and concerns of juggling family and career, her search for teaching jobs and her struggle to gain graduate education while caring for a family.

Letters from the 1970s through the 1990s primarily describe her professional career, first at Federal City College and more extensively at Mount Holyoke College. There is also correspondence detailing her weeklong 1972 visit to Mount Holyoke College as an "alumna in residence." The correspondence from her career at Mount Holyoke includes letters to many faculty and staff, often about standard college and departmental news and information, but also discussions of topics such as the status of African-American students, the general campus environment and the role of women's colleges in higher education. Additionally, there is much correspondence with students including praise of her teaching, updates about their lives after graduation and requests for recommendations. The material from this time span also includes personal correspondence such as letters to and from her daughters Christina and Elizabeth, her parents, Donald McHenry and many other friends and family members.

The Writings and Speeches series contains unpublished essays and manuscripts by McHenry as well as a speech she delivered at the Oakwood School and two speeches she delivered as a professor at Mount Holyoke College events. These materials include her 1953 writings in Mount Holyoke College's Tempo Magazine, a report given at Federal City College about the English placement exam, notes; draft and a manuscript of a style guide co-authored by McHenry in 1972 (apparently unpublished), drafts of a work called "My Black Childhood," McHenry's proof reading corrections to a manuscript of John Irving's The World According to Garp, a small written work titled "Why I teach," a speech given by McHenry at the Oakwood School in 1952 about her trip to France, a transcript, program and sound recording of a speech given by McHenry at the 1972 Mount Holyoke College conference "Escape from the Circle: An Exploration of the Effect and Effectiveness of Education in Determining the roles of Women," and a speech given by McHenry at the conferring of an honorary doctoral degree to Maya Angelou.

The Course Records contain documents both from McHenry's time as a student and from courses she taught as a professor of English. McHenry's student records document her elementary education through her master's work at Columbia. These records include graded work, notebooks, report cards and transcripts. The records of classes taught by McHenry span her early career at Federal City College, Howard and George Washington through her time at Mount Holyoke from the 1970s-1990s. These records include syllabi, her notes from the classes and graded student work.

The yearbooks series contains McHenry's 1946-1948 and 1950 yearbooks from the Oakwood School.

The Calendars and Planners Series contains a 1946 telephone and address book, a daily planner from 1949, and daily planners of the 1950-1954 academic years which record assignments and events.

The subject files series contains programs and information from events attended by McHenry including the 1979 Consortium on Financing Higher Education: Conference on Campus Climates for Minorities, the 1972 Education Policy Symposium, and Speech 101 at Southern Illinois University, instructions and policy regarding grading exams for Educational Testing Services and lists of people and addresses arranged by McHenry.

The Family Papers Series contains biographical information about several of McHenry's family members. This material includes telegraphs of sympathy and the funeral registry related to the death of McHenry's maternal grandfather Franklin Bennett, a diary, eulogy and passport of McHenry's paternal aunt or great aunt Sarah Williamson Coleman, an elementary school transcript, teaching evaluations, pamphlet about the "Futurist Club" (which she co-founded) and a brief, handwritten memoir by McHenry's mother Elizabeth Bennett Williamson, college transcripts and employment applications of McHenry's second husband Donald F. McHenry, grades, articles and school information about McHenry's daughter Elizabeth McHenry and some financial information and travel planning information belonging to McHenry's parents Alphonso and Elizabeth Williamson.

The Biographical information Series includes McHenry's 1933 birth certificate, transcripts of her academic work from elementary school through college, a marriage license for her marriage to Harry Saunders Murphy, Jr., a divorce summons for her divorce from Donald F. McHenry, letters of inquiry and applications for numerous teachings jobs in the 1950s, different versions of her resume from 1970-1973, forms indicating her official acceptance of and/or resignation from jobs at the Library of Congress, Federal City College and Mount Holyoke College, an evaluation of her teaching at Federal City College in 1972 including descriptions of her courses, a self-evaluation and an evaluation of her students, applications for Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Whitney Foundation and newspaper and magazine articles about McHenry from the 1950s-1980s with topics as varied as notices of her marriages and awards she won in college to profiles and interviews about her experiences teaching at Mount Holyoke

Memorabilia contains programs from McHenry's childhood piano recitals in the 1940s, pamphlets and souvenirs from a 1950 trip to France, programs from the Mount Holyoke college Freshman, Sophomore and Junior shows 1950-1953 in which McHenry performed, church bulletins announcing McHenry's gifts to the Calvary Episcopal Church and All Saints Church in honor of her grandfather, an announcement for McHenry's 1954 graduation from Mount Holyoke College, a Phi Beta Kappa sign from McHenry's initiation in 1954, a script for the 1952 Mount Holyoke College Junior Show, a small, hand-made book containing a humorous poem about McHenry called "A Book for MEW," a program from the 1973 Black Alumnae Conference and a program from the 1976 Mount Holyoke College reunion.

Contains photographs of McHenry from infancy through 1983, photographs of McHenry with other people and photographs of friends, family and colleagues including her parents, husbands and children.

This series contains one scrapbook with birthday cards for McHenry from family and friends from her birth through age 10.