This collection contains the personal papers of Josephine Lee (Rantoul) Murray, including personal correspondence, childhood records, diaries and journals, ephemera, newspaper clippings, and photographs. It contains several months of correspondence from Henry A. Murray, Jr. and several personal childhood diaries. The collection has been organized into three series and arranged chronologically within the subseries.

Series I. Correspondence consists of three subseries. Subseries A. Letters To and From Friends consist of letters from friends and family and includes drafts of letters she wrote in pencil to same. Two primary sets of correspondence consist of letters from male friends, Gordon Grant and Bill, and to a lesser degree, Wally. Bill's letters, from Crawford Notch, New Hampshire, Glacial National Park, and Montreal, also contain news of his adventures and travels. Other letters are her drafts to friends, family and "Harry," as well as letters from her Aunt Elsie in Manchester-by-the Sea, Massachusetts. There are also a number of newspaper clippings of crew teams at Harvard, of the Saltonstall family, and assorted memorabilia. Subseries B. Henry A. Murray Letters contain over 125 letters written to Josephine from Henry while he was in New York pursuing his medical studies. The letters begin in October, 1915 and continue until their marriage in May, 1916. Subseries C. Letters While in Europe contain letters written while she was on an extended stay in Europe (England, France, Switzerland, and Monte Carlo) with her husband and daughter from June, 1937 to March, 1938. One collection of letters is written to her mother and another to her mother-in-law. There is a small collection of letters to other family members, which include postcards to Mrs. Neal Rantoul that may have been from other family members traveling with Mrs. Murray. A 1924 wireless letter while aboard the S.S. Scythia was sent to family in Beverly Farms informing them of safe passage.

Series II. Writings consists of two subseries. Subseries A. Diaries includes her personal diaries beginning in 1909 when she was 15 years old until 1916, the year of her marriage to Henry. Included in the later diaries are such memorabilia as Gordon Grant's metal name tag, sports schedules, and handwritten prayers. Also included in the pages are photographs of Harry and notes from him. Subseries B. Notebooks and Journals contain two notebooks in which she glued personal invitations to parties and events in Boston, Brookline, and other locations. She writes commentaries for each describing her experience of the event and others in attendance. There are also a number of partially completed journals with inspirational and religious quotations, poems, and school notes. One of the two travel journals written in 1909 describes a voyage from New York to Paris and then onto London. One notebook contains information about her wedding, attendees, gifts, and wedding party, as well as a domestic inventory.

Series III. Photographs, Ephemera, and Genealogy includes a photograph album she kept and several loose photographs, for the most part, unidentified. There is one photograph of her at three months of age taken with her mother. There is also a genealogy with photographs of the Saltonstall family and six of her report cards from The Misses May's School signed by her mother.