After being defeated for re-election in 2002, Speaker Thomas B. Murphy of the Georgia House of Representatives in 2003 transferred the contents of his office, including his legislative papers and approximately 1,500 artifacts, to the University of West Georgia. In 2008, the Georgia General Assembly allocated funds to replicate Speaker Murphy's state capitol office as part of the renovation of UWG's Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library. In February 2010, UWG's curatorial team, led by Catherine Hendricks, began work with Atlanta-based design firm Avient Museum Services to develop interpretative panels and computer kiosks to contextualize Murphy's life and career. Other members of the curatorial team included UWG history professor Dr. Keith Hebert and UWG graduate students Sara Berry, Marina Rakitova, Matthew Harris, and Jessica West. In 2011, curatorial staff cataloged Murphy's artifacts and prepared them for display. The replicated office and accompanying exhibit opened on April 19, 2012, with a number of prominent Georgia politicians - including Murphy's son, Judge Mike Murphy, former Georgia governors Roy Barnes and Sonny Perdue, and all four living speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives - in attendance.