Paul Lloyd Murphy was born on 5 September 1923 in Caldwell, Idaho. He earned his B.A. from the College of Idaho in 1947. The University of California, Berkeley awarded him an M.A. degree in 1947 and Ph.D. in 1953. Dr. Murphy was an assistant professor at Colorado State University (1953) and instructor at Ohio State University (1953-1957). Dr. Murphy joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1957 as an assistant professor of history. He was promoted to associate professor in 1960 and professor in 1970. In 1990, Dr. Murphy was named a Regents' professor, the highest honor conferred upon the faculty at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Murphy was known as a leader in the fields of civil liberties and the Bill of Rights and is often credited as inventing the field of American constitutional history. He retired from the University in June 1997. Paul Murphy died on 20 July 1997.
From the guide to the Paul L. Murphy papers, 1960-1980, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])
