Myrtle Cheney Murdock Collection

Myrtle M. Cheney was born to Nathaniel and Annie Cheney in Nauvoo, Illinois on November 28, 1885. She was raised in Kirksville, Missouri and met her husband, John Robert Murdock (1885-1972), while studying at Missouri State Teacher's College. The couple had three children: Rachel (Murdock) Ellis (ca. 1911-), David Nathaniel (1913-1943), and John Benjamin (1919-2007). After briefly teaching at public schools in Oklahoma, the family moved to Tempe, Arizona.

Myrtle Cheney Murdock completed a Masters in Education at the University of Arizona and accepted a teaching appointment at Phoenix College. Upon her husband's election to the US Congress she relocated with him to Washington and served as his clerk. She was elected president of the 75th Congressional Club and wrote regular columns for the Arizona Republic entitled Washington Life by the Congressman's Wife. In 1940 she completed her PhD in Education at George Washington University.

The Murdocks chose to stay in Washington after John Murdock's defeat in the 1952 congressional election. Myrtle Murdock completed a biography of US capitol artist Constantino Brumidi, served as a capitol docent, and taught classes at George Washington University. She died of pneumonia at Media, Pennsylvania on March 19, 1980.