Correspondence, memoranda, diary, journal, minute book, account books, printed material, and other papers concerning New York state, national, and international politics from the Civil War to the 1890s. Topics include Evarts' early law practice, cases in which he represented the U.S. during the Civil War, trial of Jefferson Davis, impeachment of Andrew Johnson, Geneva Arbitration Tribunal (1871-1872), Samuel J. Tilden election case of 1876, appointment of ambassadors, Chinese immigration, international monetary conference in Paris (1878), presidential campaign of 1880, Peabody Education Fund, Statue of Liberty, patronage, pensions, suffrage, and tariffs.

Correspondents include James Burrill Angell, John Jacob Astor, Edward Bates, James Gillespie Blaine, Joseph Hodges Choate, Cyrus W. Field, James A. Garfield, John Hay, Ebenezer R. Hoar, Levi P. Morton, Edward John Phelps, William Henry Seward, William Henry Trescott, Julia Gardiner Tyler, and Robert C. Winthrop.