Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Eaton Chandler (1835-1917) span the years 1863-1917 and relate chiefly to Chandler's career as a government official and senator. The collection consists principally of bound volumes of general correspondence, mostly letters received, with some copies of letters sent, and a small number of miscellaneous items documenting Chandler's activities as assistant secretary of the treasury, 1865-1867, secretary of the navy, 1882-1885, United States Senator from New Hampshire, 1887-1901, and chairman of the Spanish Treaty Claims Commission, 1901-1908. The papers also reflect Chandler's activities in the Republican Party and his role in the presidential campaigns of 1868 and 1872, in the disputed election of 1876 between Rutherford Birchard Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden, and in the campaign for president in 1880.
Correspondents include Chester Alan Arthur, James Gillespie Blaine, Montgomery Blair, George S. Boutwell, Jay Cooke, Walter Quintin Gresham, William Pitt Kellogg, Philander C. Knox, William McKinley, William Orton, Orville Hitchcock Platt, Thomas Collier Platt, and Lew Wallace.