The Robert R. Bowie Papers reflect Bowie's government service under four administrations, as well as his position at Harvard University, his Army service and work in the postwar military government of Germany, research for books he wrote, and his later activities as a member of national and international policy and strategy organizations.

The papers contain four series. The first represents Bowie's wartime service, when he worked on war contracts, as well as his work towards the reconstruction of Germany—first as Special Assistant to the Deputy Military Governor for Germany, General Lucius Clay (1945-1946), and second as General Counsel to John J. McCloy, U.S. High Commissioner for Germany (1950-1951). The papers include correspondence from these periods, as well as memoranda, drafts of talks, papers, and legal material, and government publications.

The papers in the second series include material originated from both of Bowie's positions at the United States State Department—as Director of the Policy Planning Staff and Assistant Secretary of State (1953-1957) and as Counselor to the Secretary of State (1966-1968)—in particular, correspondence and memoranda from these periods.

From the period when Bowie served as Deputy Director for National Intelligence at the CIA (1977-1979), the papers contain talking points for presidential briefings, as well as personal correspondence, though agency memoranda and correspondence are absent. This material appears in Series 3 along with papers that relate to Bowie's activities earlier in the 1970s—as a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Overseas Development Council in particular. Series 3 also includes research files for Bowie's book Suez 1956 (1974).

Material relating to Bowie's long professional association with Harvard University appears throughout the papers. Bowie held a professorship there, with occasional periods of leave for government service, from 1946 to 1980, and correspondence with his Harvard colleagues appears in each series.

The final series contains papers derived primarily from the 1980s and 1990s, after Bowie's retirement from Harvard. Correspondence, notes, drafts, and printed material document his involvement with many national and international policy and strategy organizations. Series 4 also contains research and correspondence files for Bowie's work on Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy, co-authored with Richard Immerman.

Individual series descriptions include more detail.