The Patricia Murphy Derian papers cover the years 1962-2008 and document Derian's involvement and interventions concerning human rights and civil liberties in the U.S. and worldwide. Derian was an activist, organizer, researcher, and served as the first Assistant Secretary of State for Bureau for Human Rights (HR) and Humanitarian Affairs (HA), created in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. The collection comprises Derian's personal notes; correspondence with state officials, friends and human rights activists; unclassified State Department documents; reports; travel information; posters (located in the Oversize Material); interviews (both audio-visual and printed); memorabilia; and news clippings. These and other materials provide valuable insights into the history of human rights activism and major cases of human rights violations from the early 1970s up to the second term of the George W. Bush administration. The collection is arranged into five series: Carter Administration - 1980 Campaign and Employment, Department of State Human Rights (HR) and Humanitarian Affairs (HA) Bureau, Post-Carter Administration Human Rights Work, Countries, and Audiovisual Material. A final group houses oversize material. The scope of Derian's papers is extensive, covering the history of human rights movements and national policies and politics since the early 1970s in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. U.S. foreign and military policies, repercussions of those policies, and documentation of disappearances, torture and other forms of violation of human rights are documented extensively in the Department of State Human Rights (HR) and Humanitarian Affairs (HA) Bureau Series, and in the large Countries Series, which brings together Derian's files on Argentina, El Salvador, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, South Korea, Vietnam, and Middle Eastern countries, as well as a grouping on sixteen other countries. Many of these country files cover several decades of information and analysis. Especially significant are documents concerning U.S.-El Salvador and U.S.-Argentina relations during the 1970s and 1980s. Other topics in the collection include women's rights, women in public office, civil liberties in the U.S., and the human rights work of foundations such as the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation and Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation.
The Carter Administration - 1980 Carter-Mondale Campaign and Employment series includes materials concerning the organization of the 1980 Carter-Mondale election campaign; it also documents employment procedures for Derian's position at the White House.
The Post-Carter Administration Human Rights Work series is arranged into five subseries. The Human Rights Organizations subseries documents Derian's post-Carter administration human rights work in connection with various organizations, NGO's and research institutes. The Symposia and Conferences subseries comprises programs, proceedings, and papers presented at conferences and symposia attended by Derian. The General Files subseries contains subject files assembled by Derian that address broad human rights matters, including some materials on civil rights movement in Mississippi, human rights during the Reagan administration, and human rights violations around the world, including torture, murder, and kidnappings. The Prizes and Awards subseries covers the materials concerning Derian's work on committees of various foundations advocating the improvement of human rights conditions worldwide. The Miscellaneous Files subseries contains materials such as articles, dissertation monographs, reports, correspondence, political posters, and news clippings which refer to diverse issues such as humans rights and the Bush administration, the women's rights movement, U.S. foreign policy, and evaluation of the political and human rights situation in various Latin American countries.
Recordings of Patricia Derian's public speeches, interviews and excerpts from political protests in Argentina are housed in the Audiovisual Series. The Oversized Material grouping houses large items removed from files throughout the collection. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive at Duke University.
