The Louis A. Kenney Papers document Kenney's years as University Librarian at San Diego State University. The collection dates from 1914-1992, and has been divided into four series: Correspondence, Professional Files, Printing Ephemera, and Scrapbooks.

The Correspondence series includes Kenney's ingoing and outgoing correspondence from 1960 to 1980, as well as his dissertation. Included in this series are memos regarding the budget; various complaints and concerns from faculty and staff; information on meetings and new employee appointments; requests for forming cooperative relationships with other libraries; and memos regarding the library's move to a new building in 1971. The series is arranged chronologically.

The Professional Files series documents a broad range of Kenney's life from his doctoral dissertation to his retirement from the San Diego State library in 1980. The series dates from 1950 to 1992, with some undated materials. Included in this series is a copy of Kenney's PhD dissertation, The Censorship Edicts of Emperor Charles V in the Low Countries, 1515-1550, as well as a copy of a rare 1540 edition of Ordenung und Mandat, a primary document used for his dissertation; and three folders of correspondence regarding the library's Edward A. Block Memorial Collection from 1965-1973. Also included is Kenney's Campanile Club plaque, one of his nameplates, and a copy of a 42nd Infantry Division history/yearbook, ca. 1943. There is no filing order.

The Printing Ephemera series includes various materials collected by Kenney during his tenure as University Librarian.

The Photographs and Scrapbooks series includes photographs of the 1939 New York World’s Fair and Kenney’s wartime service in Europe, and three scrapbooks that document Kenney’s travels after the war and contain postcards he collected. The loose photographs primarily document Kenny’s wartime service and include photographs taken by Kenney and souvenir prints he purchased. The wartime photographs, which mostly date from the summer of 1945, include photographs taken in cities and towns in France, Germany, Austria and Scotland. The aftermath of the war is shown through several photographs of buildings destroyed by bombing. Also included are a group of photographs Kenney took while attending the New York World’s Fair in 1939, as well as a shot of Kenney’s relatives in Los Angeles. The first scrapbook was compiled by Kenney while on a trip through Italy with school friends in 1950. It includes postcards and photos of Kenney and his friends from Florence, Milan, Assisi, Rome, Amalfi, Pompeii, Sicily, and numerous other locations in Italy. The second consists of postcards from Hawaii, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the Chinese countryside. It also includes some cards depicting the US Pacific Fleet, and the Japanese silk and tea industries. The third was compiled by Kenney while on a trip through France and Switzerland with school friends in 1949. It is unclear if this is the same trip in which he visited Italy. The album includes photos and postcards from the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, Paris, the French countryside, Zurich, Bern, and the Swiss countryside.