Contents

Collection Summary

Scope and Content Note for Additions to the Collection

Arrangement of the Papers

Selected Search Terms

Series 1, General Correspondence and Related Manuscripts, 1843-1938

Series 2, Arthur-Dun Manuscripts, 1862-1887

Series 3, Arthur Transcripts, 1872-1926

Series 4: Addition, 1846-1960

Selected Bibliography

Chester Alan Arthur Papers

A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Manuscript Division staff

2009

Scope and Content Note for Additions to the Collection

Series 4, the Addition to the Arthur Papers, spans the period 1846-1960 and is arranged in four subseries: Correspondence, Financial Papers, Scrapbooks, and Miscellany.

The largest portion of Series 4 appears to be part of the correspondence file of the New York Republican State Committee dating from May to November 1880, a period in which Arthur served as committee chairman, and beginning in June, as vice-presidential candidate. There are letters and telegrams to Arthur and other members of the committee as well as draft replies from Arthur, apparently in the handwriting of his secretary, James C. Reed.

Other correspondence includes letters from Arthur to his son, Chester Alan Arthur (1864-1937); letters from Robert Graham Dun, George Bliss, and Roscoe Conkling to Arthur; and letters of resignation submitted by members of James A. Garfield's cabinet after his assassination in 1881.

Also in Series 4 are an account book for the Arthur’s presidential years kept by the steward of the Executive Mansion, a scrapbook on Arthur's service as collector of customs for the Port of New York (1871-1877), and correspondence between Owen A. Sheffield and E. T. I. Thygeson in 1960 that illuminates Arthur's relationship with his close friend Robert Graham Dun and discusses the disposition of Arthur's personal papers.

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Selected Search Terms

People

• Allen, Campbell--Correspondence.
• Arthur, Chester Alan, 1829-1886.
• Arthur, Chester Alan, 1864-1937--Correspondence.
• Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893--Correspondence.
• Bliss, George, 1830-1897--Correspondence.
• Brewster, Benjamin Harris, 1816-1888--Correspondence.
• Bristow, Benjamin Helm, 1832-1896--Correspondence.
• Conkling, Roscoe, 1829-1888--Correspondence.
• Dun, Robert Graham, 1826-1900--Correspondence.
• Fish, Hamilton, 1808-1893--Correspondence.
• Frelinghuysen, Frederick T. (Frederick Theodore), 1817-1885--Correspondence.
• Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885--Correspondence.
• Guiteau, Charles Julius, 1841-1882--Correspondence.
• MacVeagh, Wayne, 1833-1917--Correspondence.
• Morgan, Edwin D. (Edwin Denison), 1811-1883--Correspondence.
• Phillips, Frederick J.--Correspondence.
• Reed, James C.--Correspondence.
• Sand, Julia I.--Correspondence.
• Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888--Correspondence.
• Sherman, John, 1823-1900--Correspondence.
• Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891--Correspondence.
• Sprague, Kate Chase, 1840-1899--Correspondence.

Organizations

• New York (N.Y.) Collector of the Port of New York.
• Republican Party (N.Y.). State Committee--Correspondence.

Subjects

• Customs administration--New York (State)--New York.

Places

• New York (State)--Politics and government.
• United States--Politics and government--1881-1885.

Occupations

• Presidents--United States.

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Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged in four series:

• Series 1, General Correspondence and Related Manuscripts, 1843-1938
• Series 2, Arthur-Dun Manuscripts, 1862-1887
• Series 3, Arthur Transcripts, 1872-1926
• Series 4: Addition, 1846-1960

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Container List

Series 1, General Correspondence and Related Manuscripts, 1843-1938

Letters received, some letters sent, related original manuscripts, and a few photocopies of original manuscripts.

Arranged chronologically.

1843 Aug. 31-1881 Dec.

1882 Jan. 1-1925 Apr. 27

1925 May 1-1938 Mar. 9 and undated

Series 2, Arthur-Dun Manuscripts, 1862-1887

Photocopies and a few typed copies of letters exchanged by Arthur and Robert Graham Dun and of other letters and documents concerning Arthur.

Arranged chronologically.

1862 Aug. 6-1887 Feb. 7

Series 3, Arthur Transcripts, 1872-1926

Typed copies of certain letters written by, to, or concerning President Arthur in the papers of other persons in the Library of Congress.

Arranged chronologically.

1871 Nov. 23-1926 Jan. 4

Series 4: Addition, 1846-1960

Correspondence, 1846-1887

Arranged chronologically.

1846-1879 (4 folders)

1880

May-Aug. 20 (5 folders)

Aug. 21-Sept. 13 (18 folders)

Sept. 14-23 (16 folders)

Sept. 24-31 (16 folders)

Oct. 1-7 (16 folders)

Oct. 8-15 (15 folders)

Oct. 16-20 (9 folders)

Oct. 21-24 (19 folders)

Oct. 25-26 (31 folders)

Oct. 26-28 (23 folders)

Oct. 29-Nov. 30 (21 folders)

No day or month (12 folders)

1881-1887, undated (8 folders)

Indexes to three vols. of letterbooks, 1880, May-Nov., accompanied by lists in the original arrangement of the letters before they were disbound and filed chronologically in this series (2 folders)

Financial Papers, 1855-1886

Arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Account books

Family expense book, 1873-1876, and personal and family expense book, 1881-1882

Presidential, 1882-1885

Checkbooks

Arthur family, 1876-1881

Presidential, 1882-1884

Checks, 1871-1886 (4 folders)

Estate of Chester Alan Arthur and Elizabeth H. Herndon, 1886

Financial affairs of Elizabeth H. Herndon

Bills and receipts, 1856-1863, undated (6 folders)

Insurance policies

Miscellaneous (2 folders)

Mortgages, deeds, releases, 1855-1863, 1871 (4 folders)

Receipts and promissory note, 1873-1886

Scrapbooks, 1871-1884

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Clippings

Arthur and the New York Custom House, New York, N.Y., 1871-1877

Political and personal life of Arthur, 1883-1884

Miscellany, circa 1857-1960

Arranged alphabetically by type of material or topic.

Address books of Arthur's wife, Ellen Herndon Arthur (1838-1880) and daughter, Ellen Herndon Arthur Pinkerton (1871-1915)

Address about Arthur by William E. Chandler, 1903

Answer of the Weighers of the Port of New York to the Report of the Commission To Investigate the New York Custom House (1877?)

Arthur family Bible, photocopy of pages relating to births, marriages, and deaths, circa 1857-1937 (Bible in Rare book Division)

Arthur family genealogy

Arthur, Chester Alan, last will and testament, 1886, Mar. 8, and report of the executors of his estate, 1888, July 24 (6 folders)

Certificates and commission appointing Arthur as custom collector for the Port of New York, 1871-1881

Election and calling cards

General

Hendley, C. M., recollection of Arthur, 1925, Apr. 22

Memorial to Arthur, by the Military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commanders of the District of Columbia, 1886

Nicaraguan canal route proposal

Postcard photograph of Arthur, Arthur coat of arms, and seals

Record of expressions of sympathy on Arthur's death, 1886

Reproductions of documents by, to, and about Arthur, circa 1853-1886, undated (15 folders)

Republican Leaders: Life and Letter of Acceptance of Chester A. Arthur, the Republican Candidate for Vice President (New York: Cornwell press, Book and Job Printers, 1880)

Sheffield, Owen A., and E. T. I. Thygeson, correspondence regarding Robert Graham Dun and Arthur, 1960 (2 folders)

Album of photographs, "Journey Through the Yellowstone National Park and Northwestern Wyoming, 1883" (from Prints and Photographs Division)