The series comprises correspondence to and from Ney's friends, supporters, students, professional contacts, politicians and other public figures in the realm of education, youth issues, and Commonwealth affairs. The files are arranged by subject, name of correspondent, or chronologically by year or time period. Greeting cards, telegrams, and photographs are also found in the series. In terms of subjects, Ney kept files on the adoption of ships of the Royal Navy and other naval matters during the Second World War, war guests in Canada, the Bank of Montreal, and finance and patronage requests for his projects.
In the chronological and nominal files, his early letters provide a detailed picture of his activities in the field of education and in youth organization for the empire. Correspondence from the 1920s and 1930s discusses the planning of tours of teachers and students to Britain and continental Europe, conferences on education, visits of lecturers to Canada, and the Empire Youth Rally in conjunction with the coronation in 1937, among other activities. Extensive correspondence with Dr. Robert Fletcher and Lilian Watson concerns the management of the Winnipeg offices of the National Council of Education and Overseas Education League. Letters from F. D. L. Smith, who chaired the Canadian Committee for Empire Youth Sunday services, discuss the arrangements of these services in the 1940s and the financial management and structure of the Empire Youth Movement. Postwar correspondence relates almost exclusively to Ney's efforts to establish and strengthen Commonwealth Youth Movement, organize and lead its annual quests, and forge links with other Commonwealth or youth organizations. Many of these letters are from members of the United Kingdom Committee and the local committees in Canada in regard to the itineraries, planning and participation in quests and other CYM activities.
Ney's correspondents included prominent British public figures such as L. S. Amery, Alan Lennox-Boyd, E. H. C. Leather, John Buchan, Sir William Clark, General Alec Bishop, Sir Alan Lascelles (Buckingham Palace), Lord Lloyd, Sir Alfred Noyes, and David Dilks; and Canadians like Georges and Pauline Vanier, Esmond Butler (Government House), Vincent Massey and his sons, and Sir Edward Beatty, among others.