Rough Point was purchased by James B. Duke in 1922. When Duke passed away in 1925, he left the home to his 12-year-old daughter Doris, subject to Mrs. (Nanaline) Duke's life interest. Although Nanaline Duke continued to spend her summers at Rough Point, in the early 1950s she took up permanent residence in New York City and emptied Rough Point of all its furnishings. It was around this time that Doris Duke once again became a frequent visitor to Newport and turned her attention to renovating and refurnishing the family estate. Upon her death in 1993, Miss Duke bequeathed the estate to the Newport Restoration Foundation with the directive that it be opened to the public as a museum. The collection primarily documents the expenses and daily operations of running, renovating, and maintaining the Rough Point estate, and includes invoices and receipts for repairs and renovations to the residence, correspondence and memoranda relating to routine matters of the residence, expenses, inventories of furniture, fixtures, and other household items, and several appraisals of the residence and its household effects. A majority of the architectural records detail alterations and additions to the Rough Point residence as designed by the Horace Trumbauer firm.

The Doris Duke Papers on the Rough Point Residence (formerly RP.4) are part of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives which were donated to the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The collection is arranged into two series: Administrative Records and Architectural Records. It spans the years 1922 to 1997, beginning with invoices and vouchers of furnishings, paintings, and rugs purchased for Rough Point by James Buchanan (J.B.) and Nanaline Duke, and ending with maintenance and general upkeep of the estate after Doris Duke's death in 1993. The collection primarily documents the expenses and daily operations of running, renovating, and maintaining the Rough Point estate, and includes invoices and receipts for repairs and renovations to the residence, correspondence and memoranda relating to routine matters of the residence, expenses, inventories of furniture, fixtures, and other household items, and several appraisals of the residence and its household effects. A majority of the architectural records detail alterations and additions to the Rough Point residence as designed by the Horace Trumbauer firm. The materials in this collection are arranged loosely in chronological order.

In 1968, Doris Duke established the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) with the express purpose of preserving, interpreting, and maintaining landscape and objects reflecting the 18th- and 19th-century architectural culture of Aquidneck Island (Newport, R.I.). In creating the foundation, Doris Duke had a simple plan: to purchase dilapidated 18th century homes and meticulously restore them so that every detail was as historically accurate as possible. During the next three decades, preservation remained a major focus among her many charitable endeavors. Saving eighty-three properties was an undertaking on a scale and scope that has never been repeated. Doris Duke gave $21.9 million to the Newport Restoration Foundation, the largest philanthropic gift she made to a single organization during her lifetime. The collection documents the daily business activities of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF), including purchases, renovations, and renting of various NRF homes, photo inventories of the furniture and other household items at each restored NRF home, weekly progress reports, and other routine matters. The architectural records in this collection are related to the renovation of several of the NRF homes. The materials in this collection are arranged chronologically and alphabetically thereunder.

The Newport Restoration Foundation Records (formerly NRF.12) are part of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives which were donated to the Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The collection spans the years 1968 to 1999, although a bulk of the material dates from 1968 to 1982. While the collection is arranged into three series: Adminstrative Records, Financial Records, and Architectural Records, the majority of materials are financial records associated with the daily operations and management of the foundation and its assets. Overall, the collection documents the daily business activities of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF), including purchases, renovations, and renting of various NRF homes, photo inventories of the furniture and other household items at each restored NRF home, weekly progress reports, and other routine matters. The architectural records in this collection are related to the renovation of several of the NRF homes. The materials in this collection are arranged chronologically and alphabetically thereunder.