The papers of Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) span the years 1949-1991, with the bulk of the items ranging from 1961 to 1991. The majority of the papers document Marshall's career as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1961-1965; as United States Solicitor General, 1965-1967; and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1967-1991. The papers consist of four series: United States Court of Appeals File, United States Solicitor General File, Supreme Court File, and Miscellany. Records related to Marshall's early career with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are located in the Library's collections of the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. The Library holds the papers of a number of Supreme Court justices and federal appeals court judges that may be of related research interest.

The United States Court of Appeals File, 1957-1965, documents Marshall's four years of service as an appellate judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Papers in this series are divided into three subseries: General Correspondence, Administrative File, and Miscellany. The Library received no material concerning Marshall's nomination to the appeals court. The General Correspondence subseries, 1961-1965, includes incoming and outgoing letters between Marshall and judges, lawyers, court staff, law professors, government officials, friends, and the general public. The letters pertain primarily to Second Circuit administrative business and other professional matters.

The Administrative File subseries, 1961-1965, includes correspondence, memoranda, opinions, orders, case files, notes, minutes of meetings, background information, and printed matter. Papers are arranged chronologically by court term, September through June, and therein alphabetically by type of material, with the exception of files from the 1962 term which began in October. There is some overlap of files between the terms since the court's work at times continued as late as August and with court business from that term carried over to the succeeding term. The majority of these files document Marshall's duties as a judge, although there are papers pertaining to his professional activities and interests in the judicial conference and judicial council of the Second Circuit. The "General" folders in each term contain a list of the cases heard by the Second Circuit court and a summary of the disposition of the cases. The appeals and motions memoranda provide a substantive record of the day-to-day work of the court. Papers relating to cases are scattered throughout the Administrative File with only a few cases having separate case files.

The Miscellany subseries, 1957-1965, consists chiefly of correspondence, memoranda, writings, and other material relating to Marshall's personal activities and interest in various organizations during his tenure on the court of appeals. The miscellaneous papers also contain correspondence, writings, and legal material pertaining to various civil rights issues.

The United States Solicitor General series, 1965-1967, includes correspondence, memoranda, case files, notes, background material, and other items chronicling Marshall's duties as solicitor general. The majority of the papers consist of case files arranged chronologically by court term, October through late June or early July, and therein by case number. Case numbers for these files were supplemented by a two-digit prefix number supplied by Manuscript Division staff to assist in identifying the term in which the case was argued similar to the docket numbering system begun by the Supreme Court in its 1971 term. Although Marshall represented the government in a wide variety of cases, much of his success occurred in the field of civil rights in cases such as United States v. Guest, Reitman v. Mulkey, and United States v. Price, and in voting rights cases such as Katzenbach v. Morgan and Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. The "White House" folder in this series contains correspondence between Marshall and Lyndon B. Johnson and other government officials. A memorandum from Marshall to the president concerns Marshall's discussions with civil rights leaders about voter registration problems.

The Supreme Court File, 1967-1991, constitutes by far the largest part of the collection. Documenting Marshall's twenty-four years as a Supreme Court justice, the series is divided into four subseries: General Correspondence, Case File, Dockets, and Miscellany. The General Correspondence subseries, 1967-1991, contains incoming and outgoing letters primarily from the general public and organizations concerning requests and invitations to speak. Also included is correspondence pertaining to Marshall's retirement. Many of the birthday and retirement letters contain comments about ways in which Marshall's service on the Court inspired or influenced the writers.

The Case File subseries, 1967-1991, consists of administrative and opinion files. The administrative files include correspondence, memoranda, bench memoranda, certiorari memoranda, conference memoranda, opinions, orders, conference and order lists, motions, applications, disbarments, schedules, lists, and other material relating to cases heard by the court and to various administrative matters. There is some overlap between these files since administrative business and individual cases often continued to the next term.

Opinion files constituting the bulk of the Case File subseries include correspondence, memoranda, and notes exchanged chiefly between Marshall, clerks, and other justices; draft opinions; final printed opinions; and related material. The files are arranged chronologically by term, October through late June or early July, and therein numerically by docket number. Exceptions to this order include opinions and other documents generated after July which are usually filed in the previous court term, i.e., an opinion written in August 1979 is filed in the October 1978 term. As in the Solicitor General series, docket numbers of the appellate and in forma pauperis cases from 1967 to 1970 were supplemented by a two-digit prefix number supplied by Manuscript Division staff to assist in identifying the term in which cases are located.

The opinion files generally document Marshall's many concurrences with the majority position of the court during his early years and the increase in his dissents as the court's position changed during the latter part of his tenure. The papers reflect Marshall's strong advocacy of the rights of minority and disadvantaged individuals, his support for the rights of criminal defendants, and his arguments against capital punishment as a cruel and unusual form of punishment.

The Dockets subseries, 1967-1991, provides a record of the name and docket number of individual cases and indicates how the justices voted on a case. The Miscellany subseries, 1967-1991, consists chiefly of office files relating to Marshall's administrative duties and professional activities while on the court. The files reflect his activities and service on judicial committees and commissions and his interest in topics such as the creation of a national court of appeals (mini-courts) and rule changes in the legal system.

The final series in the papers, Miscellany, 1949-1963, includes correspondence, diary notes, speeches, resolutions, and other material pertaining to Marshall's activities prior to his appointment to the court of appeals.

Significant and frequent correspondents include Benjamin O. Davis (1912- ), John Doar, John Hope Franklin, Arthur J. Goldberg, Lyndon B. Johnson, J. Edward Lumbard, Adam Clayton Powell, Carl T. Rowan, and Roy Wilkins.