The Sister Gwen Hennessey papers date from 2000 to 2005 and measure 2 linear inches plus audiovisual materials. The papers consist of a brief autobiography covering Hennessey's childhood, her teaching activities, and her early activism. The bulk of the collection concerns Hennessey's arrest and imprisonment for demonstrating at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2000. Materials include: background information on the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (also known as both the School of the Americas and the "School of Assassins"), a copy of Sister Gwen Hennessey's statement to the judge at her trial, a letter Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) wrote supporting the Sisters prior to their trial, and a column Gwen Hennessey wrote from her prison cell for Footprints, the journal of the Sisters of Saint Francis in Dubuque, Iowa.

There are four videocassettes. The first includes local and national television news coverage regarding the Hennessey sisters' sentencing and incarceration [V298]. The second includes the Leave-Taking Prayer service for the Hennessey sisters, a presentation by Charles Lietky (Vietnam veteran and peace activist), and an interview with Father Ron Hennessey (brother of Gwen Hennessey) regarding his experiences in Guatemala and El Salvador [V299]. The third, The Hennessey Sisters and the Graduates of the School of the Americas, includes an interview with the Hennessey sisters covering their youth, their brother Father Ron Hennessey, and their political views of U.S. policies in Central America and the School of the Americas [V300]. The fourth, Bill Cullen Presents Sr. Dorothy Marie Hennessey and Sr. Gwen Hennessey is an interview with the Hennessey sisters about their activism against the School of the Americas [V301].