The Hetherington collection consists predominantly of a series of notes of interviews with political figures from Britain and overseas kept between November 1958 and July 1975. Rough notes were made after the interviews which were later sent for typing; where a lengthy delay intervened prior to typing this is indicated. Frequent accounts are given of meetings with Labour leaders from Hugh Gaitskell to James Callaghan and there were regular meetings with Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party, in the early years. Regional development and the Scottish government are frequent themes throughout the British interviews and there are discussions of the spy scandals of the early 1960s and the industrial disputes of the early 1970s. Foreign affairs figure strongly including Rhodesia's declaration of UDI, the independence of African states, the Vietnam War and the pursuit of a settlement in the Middle East. Britain's negotiations towards entry into the EEC can be traced. The section 'Additional Papers' contains notes on an attempted merger of The Times and the Guardian in 1967.

This collection encompasses all the main phases of Crosland's career; his education and early career, World War II, his time as a Member of Parliament. It includes personal and professional correspondence, diaries, notes and notebooks, publications, speeches, broadcasts, photographs, and ephemera (including opera, theatre and concert programmes) and comprises the following:
Part I. Education and Early Career, 1930-1950
Section 1) Highgate School (exercise books and certificates); Section 2) Trinity College, Oxford (essays and notes, material relating to student societies, and ephemera); Section 3) War (including diaries, correspondence and notebooks).

Part II. Member of Parliament, 1950-1977
Section 4) Papers; Section 5) Ministerial; Section 6) Labour Party; Section 7) Constituency; Section 8) Official foreign visits.

Part III. Correspondence (personal and professional), 1927-1976:
Section 9) 1927-1949; Section 10) 1950-1966; Section 11) 1967-1970; Section 12) 1971-1976.

Part IV. Various, 1920 - 1980
Section 13) Books, pamphlets, articles, speeches and broadcasts (concerning socialism, economics, and political campaigning); Section 14) Co-operative Independent Commission; Section 15) Profiles and biography; Section 16) Notes, note books, press cuttings and miscellaneous (personal accounts, notes and reflections); Section 17) Susan Crosland's papers (concerning biographies of Anthony Crosland); Section 18) Crosland Additional (photographs and ephemera).

The following sections, describing printed items, have been added to the catalogue as appendices: 1. Printed articles and speeches by Crosland; 2. Pamphlets (collected by Crosland); 3. Opera, Theatre and Concert Programmes.
There are two later accessions of scrapbooks, press cuttings, photographs, war medals and correspondence, c1920-c1980, and a file on the International Monetary Fund, 1976-1987.