The papers of Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) cover the years 1708 to 1917, with the bulk of material dating from 1777 to 1804. The collection is arranged in nine series: General Correspondence , Speeches and Writings , Legal Papers , Financial Papers , Family Papers , Miscellany , 1998 Addition , 2017 Addition , and Oversize .

The General Correspondence and Speeches and Writings series encompass all phases of Hamilton's public career and include several letterbook copies of letters either composed by Hamilton or in his handwriting from the time of his boyhood employment with Nicholas Cruger in St. Croix. Hamilton's public service began with his appointment as aide-de-camp to George Washington during the Revolutionary War, and numerous letters representative of the scope of his military responsibilities are found in the papers. In the period following Hamilton's resignation from active military duty, the correspondence and writings express his ideas concerning the form and functions of government, culminating in his participation in the Constitutional Convention and in his efforts to secure the acceptance of the new Constitution by New York's ratifying convention. However, only a fragment of one of the "Continentalist" articles and none of his Federalist essays are included in the papers.

As secretary of the treasury, Hamilton's immediate task was to establish a sound financial structure for the new government and to devise a plan for the payment of foreign, domestic, and state debts. The Speeches and Writings series contains drafts of four major economic reports submitted by Hamilton to Congress on public credit, the creation of a national bank, the establishment of a mint, and the development of a manufacturing industry. Several documents assembled in the preparation of these reports and papers relating to the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures are located in the General Correspondence and Miscellany series. Samples of lace created by women in the Massachusetts town of Ipswich from 1789-1790 are included in the General Correspondence series. They serve as one of the examples of American manufacturing that Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton gathered as he prepared his 1791 "Report on Manufactures." In the area of foreign affairs, the relationship of the United States with France and commercial ties with Great Britain were matters of vital concern to the country. Hamilton's view of these issues is related in his correspondence, especially with George Washington, and in the series of newspaper articles published under such pseudonyms as Pacificus, No Jacobin, Philo Camillus, and Camillus.

Hamilton pursued his interest in public affairs after he resigned from the Treasury Department. He continued to advise the president and cabinet members on policy matters and drafted several of Washington's addresses to Congress, including the Farewell Address. The growing threat of war with France prompted Hamilton to write a series of articles in 1797 and 1798 presenting his analysis of the political situation which led the government to consider the status of its army. By a statute passed on 16 July 1798, Congress authorized the raising of twelve additional regiments. John Adams named Washington as commander-in-chief, and Hamilton was appointed inspector general. In this office, Hamilton had most of the responsibility for recruiting and organizing the army. Correspondence and papers between July 1798 and July 1800 constitute approximately half of the documents in the collection. Although many of the papers show Hamilton's involvement in the routine operations of the army, his correspondence, much of it with James McHenry, detail the problems inherent in recruiting and organizing regiments, supply logistics, and conditions at the forts, particularly in the western regions of the country. Copies of training manuals prepared under Hamilton's direction are in the military papers in the Miscellany series, and those drafted by him are in the Speeches and Writings series.

Hamilton began his career as an attorney in 1782, and his legal papers reflect the varied range of his practice. His cases can be generally grouped into several broad categories: those growing out of the Revolutionary War involving trespass, confiscation, and citation acts, commercial transactions, maritime insurance claims, admiralty jurisdiction, disputes pertaining to colonial land patents and western lands, questions of public law and procedure, some constitutional issues, and conflict of laws. Some of the landmark cases included in his papers are Rutgers v. Waddington, People v. Croswell, Hylton v. United States, and cases forming the LeGuen v. Gouverneur and Kemble litigation.

The Financial Papers consist of two volumes of accounts relating to his law practice and a folder of miscellaneous receipts. Some of the receipts are for money given to engineer William Pearce between September 1791 and July 1792 on behalf of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures to provide machinery for manufacturing cotton.

The Family Papers series includes letters and other correspondence and documents involving members of the family other than Hamilton. The series contains letters from Angelica Church and Philip John Schuyler to Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton; from Philip John Schuyler to his grandson, Philip Hamilton; and from Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton to her sister, Catherine Cochran, and to her son, Philip Hamilton. Through the marriage of Philip Hamilton to Rebecca McLane, several McLane family letters were incorporated into the papers. Most of the nonfamily correspondence of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton relates to the management of her properties and to arrangements for the publication of Hamilton's papers. Scattered letters addressed to Alexander Hamilton (the grandson), James A. Hamilton, John Church Hamilton, and to members of the McLane family are also included in the family papers.

The 1998 Addition includes a letter from Nicholas Everton to Hamilton concerning legal matters and a circular regarding the Revenue Cutter Service. It also contains photocopied material including letters by Hamilton, miscellaneous images, and a page from a church register recording his marriage.

The 2017 Addition includes family correspondence and a fragment of a will written by Hamilton in 1795. Many of the letters are from Philip Schuyler to his daughter, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and her husband Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton’s career and his close relations with the Schuyler family are documented by these letters. Schuyler’s letters concern the health and activities of his his wife, Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler; his children; and their families, including his sons-in-law, Stephen Van Rensselaer III and Alexander Hamilton. Schuyler’s own health is a frequent topic as well as the recurring yellow fever epidemics to which the Hamiltons were exposed in Philadelphia and New York. Other topics include Schuyler’s role as a major New York landholder, politics, elections, and the Federalist party in New York and nationally. They also show the Schuyler family’s concerned attention to the wars of this period between Britain and Revolutionary France, and the Haitian Revolution. A July 20, 1804, letter from Philip Schuyler to his daughter Elizabeth Hamilton expresses sympathy for the recent death of Hamilton in a duel. Two letters from Philip Schuyler are addressed to "Miss Schuyler" who is likely his youngest daughter Catherine. This addition also has a letter from Charles Pierre L’Enfant to Hamilton concerning L’Enfant’s renovation of City Hall in New York into Federal Hall and a letter from Angelica Schuyler Church to her brother Rensselaer Schuyler about the death of their nephew, Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton's son, Philip Hamilton in a duel. Additional Schuyler material is in Family Papers series.

The Oversize series contains correspondence, reports, annotated drafts of the Constitution, writings, deeds, agreements, contracts, financial papers, certificates, printed matter, and samples of the Ipswich lace. These items were microfilmed in their original location before removal to this series.

Among the many correspondents in the papers are John Adams, Henry Clay, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, John Francis Hamtramck, William Heth, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, Rufus King, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, Henry Lee (1756-1818), Pierre Charles L'Enfant, James McHenry, James Monroe, Robert Morris, Timothy Pickering, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Nathan Rice, John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi, Philip John Schuyler, Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813), William Seton, William Stephens Smith, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, Baron von Steuben, Caleb Swan, Louis de Tousard, Robert Troup, Jeremiah Wadsworth, George Washington, James Wilkinson, and Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833).

Between 1961 and 1987, Columbia University Press published a twenty-seven-volume edition of the Papers of Alexander Hamilton , edited by Harold C. Syrett. Between 1964 and 1981, Columbia University Law School published a five-volume-edition of Hamilton's legal papers, with Julius Goebel as editor. These two editions have been used as definitive sources in the verification of names and in the dating and identification of manuscripts in the Hamilton Papers at the Library of Congress.