Correspondence of Thomas Butler Carter of Chicago to his cousin Aaron Carter in New Jersey from 1831 to 1898, plus a few other letters. Also, an autobiographical account of Carter’s life until 1889, covering his early life, his difficult journey from New York to Chicago, and the fifty years after his arrival in Chicago in 1838. Both the correspondence and the autobiography yield interesting descriptions of Chicago social and family life, business affairs, real estate transactions, religious life, local politics, and Carter’s work as a purchasing agent for the Chicago Relief and Aid Society after the 1871 fire. Also, several family and business documents and two advertising cards, plus two cabinet photographs, one of Thomas Butler Carter and one of his nephew George Lansing Raymond, and four cartes de visite of Carter and his wife Catharine Raymond Carter.