Scope and Content Note
The papers of Clarence Edwin Carter (1881-1961) span the years 1761-1961, with the bulk of the material dating from 1925 to 1956. Papers consist of correspondence, transcriptions, reports, financial papers, documents, book reviews, and clippings.
About half of the papers are transcriptions of the letters of General Thomas Gage, commander in chief of the British forces in North America at the beginning of the American Revolution. The remaining material relates to the professional and personal life of Carter.
The greater part of the professional collection deals with the editing of historical writings and documents, including Correspondence of General Thomas Gage , Illinois Historical Collections, and Territorial Papers of the United States , and covers these projects from the search for material through the publication and distribution of volumes. Other subjects concern professional tenure at universities and colleges, efforts to secure academic employment, and relations with historical associations.
The personal papers include early family letters, family genealogy, exchanges of letters by Carter with his mother, Anna Rogers Carter, and brother, Fred Armstrong Carter, and correspondence with servicemen during the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II.
The Addition contains professional material mirroring the main part of the collection, but with the inclusion of correspondence, documents, research notes, and transcriptions concerning Clarence Walworth Alvord’s Illinois Country published in 1920. The personal papers include exchanges of letters by Carter with his mother, Anna Rogers Carter, and his wife, Lillie Carter, as well as letters from his sons, Harold E. Carter and Wilfrid Carter. Miscellany contains correspondence and printed matter as well as J. Montgomery Seaver’s Carter Family Records published in 1929.