The papers of Richard William Murphy (1929-) span the years 1951 to 2014, with the bulk of the material dating from 1971 to 2004. The collection documents Murphy’s thirty-four-year career with the State Department and his subsequent work as a consultant, editorial writer, speaker, television commentator, and senior fellow for the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations. The papers are primarily in English. The collection consists of two parts. Parts I and II largely document the same time periods and topics, with Part II making up the bulk of the collection. Almost all of the papers are professional rather than personal and are concerned with Middle East affairs and United States foreign policy. Further descriptions of each part follow.

Part I

Part I, dated from 1958 to 1996, primarily documents Murphy's term as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs (1983-1989) and his later professional activities after his retirement from the State Department. Prominent correspondents include George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Warren Christopher, and Richard M. Nixon. Part I is arranged alphabetically by material type.

Part II

Part II spans from 1951 to 2014, with the bulk of the material dated from 1971 to 2004. Part II expands on the subject matter in Part I. It contains additional documentation of Murphy’s term as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs (1983-1989), in addition to documentation of his time as a U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, Syria, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia (1971-1983). Material also includes some documentation of the early years of his State Department career as a foreign service officer (1955-1968). There is a substantial amount of material regarding his activities after his retirement from the State Department including with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, the Middle East Institute, and other projects. There is also substantial documentation of his activities as a speaker, television commentator, and editorial writer. Prominent figures featured in Part II, primarily in photographs, include Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard M. Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Saddam Hussein, and Yasir Arafat. Part II is divided into four series: Department of State, Consulting and Other Work, National Security Classified Information, and Oversize.