Various runs of files arranged alphabetically by named correspondent existed in Welensky's papers. In many instances, the correspondence is personal only in the sense of being person-based, not subject-based. The several alphabetical sequences had already undergone change. Nearly all post-1963 material had been split from them at a later date; dead correspondence had been removed and bundled up separately to allow file covers to be reused (see MSS. Welensky Papers 687/1-4). The creation of individual files was a somewhat ragged affair, beginning in 1951 and gathering momentum in 1953/1954, 1956/1957, and 1963 with the changes in either Welensky's political circumstances or his private office arrangements, or both. A few files of correspondence with named persons were maintained in the (Broken Hill) P/C sequence of files (to 1953). These have been incorporated into this section and merged with other files of correspondence with those same named persons despite their contents, from time to time, being such as would have caused the letters to be filed on subject files had they originated in the Liaison Office - a particular instance is the correspondence with Sir Stewart Gore-Browne. Only at the time of federating (1953/1954) were 'personal' files classified within the overall filing system (at Fed 5009/); otherwise, they were filed at P/name. Those dealt with exclusively by the private secretaries were, usually, PS/name, but some were in the P/name sequence. As far as possible, this division has been maintained. Otherwise, to achieve the greatest possible coherence, the various alphabetical sequences have been arranged as one. Certain letters have been removed from general files to named ones to accord with the instructions to the filing clerks and certain 'dead' files restored to their proper place to minimise the effect of the purgation erratically administered in the later 1960s/1970s. In general, therefore, a limited refiling has been undertaken to produce what the original systems seemed to envisage. Security and information files on named individuals follow at MSS. Welensky Papers 687/5-692/11. Various of these had been kept in the Federal Prime Minister's office safe.

The catalogue entries are designed to give the flavour of the correspondence, without covering every topic. The correspondents are many and various. Many important individuals were in direct daily contact with Welensky and thus had no need to write; it is, therefore, amongst letters to old friends and family connections (none of them political rivals or colleagues, but some active in local affairs) that we must look for unselfconscious expressions of opinion. In describing correspondents, the knighthoods of peers are ignored as are the prefixes 'The Right Honourable' and 'The Honourable' for members of the privy council and of the various legislative councils and executive councils, for dominion and United States cabinet ministers, etc. MP is used only to indicate membership of the United Kingdom House of Commons of those holding no ministerial appointment. Titles are given as at the end of the Federation, (thus excluding the dissolution honours), except for Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who is placed under 'Home' and from whom no correspondence exists in this section during the brief period after the renunciation of his earldom. Peers without a number attached to them hold life peerages.

Where correspondence with a named individual runs through several files, full names and addresses are not repeated and dating by year alone indicates that all correspondence for that year is included. Unless otherwise indicated, 'Macleod' is Iain Norman Macleod, sometime Secretary of State for the Colonies, and 'Banda' is Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Prime Minister of Nyasaland (Malawi), etc., although there are others with these surnames featured in this archive. The verdict of the filing clerks in Salisbury (Harare) in respect of what constitutes the surname of individuals who (appear to) deploy a double barrel without hyphenation has been left to prevail.

All files contain, in some measure, personal, domestic, and social gossip, and views on current affairs within and without the Federation. Nicknames and contractions of forenames are the rule, not the exception.