Papers of Meggett, Eau Claire, Wisconsin's first lawyer, including correspondence, articles and speeches, biographical data, clippings, and mercantile business account books kept by him and his father, Alexander Meggett, in Chickopee Falls, Mass., in 1839. Correspondence include family letters and exchanges with Wisconsin political figures Jeremiah Rusk and Elisha Keyes. Also included is a biography of Henry Cousins of Eau Claire, and a pamphlet concerning an 1870 railroad celebration at Eau Claire.

Although the Alexander A. Meggett Papers cover a span of years from 1839 to 1947, there are many periods for which there are no manuscripts. The papers do, however, give an overview of Meggett's life.

The correspondence from 1843 to 1846 in composed of letters exchanged between Meggett and his parents, and between Meggett and Mary C. Taber, who became his first wife. During this period he was attending school in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and Washington and Middletown, Connecticut. Only one letter appears in 1851 - from Meggett to his mother while he was teaching and studying law at Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Two other periods of correspondence are of particular note: (1) correspondence of 1870-1872, which includes an exchange of letters with Jeremiah M. Rusk when they opposed each other in the race for Congress, and letters from Elisha W. Keyes of the Republican Central Committee; and (2) letters written by Meggett in 1884 to 1887 to his son, Frank, who was in school in Providence, Rhode Island. A single letter, dated January 23, 1894, is from Mrs. Mary Elizabeth MacArthur.

A small group of articles and speeches includes a biography of Henry Cousins (1826-1889) of Eau Claire, and a printed pamphlet concerning the railroad celebration at Eau Claire, August 11, 1870, prepared by Meggett, who was chairman of the event. A folder of widely scattered clippings, 1857-1947, concerns chiefly his legal and political career, as does the scrapbook, 1857-1951. Filed with ephemera is a small notebook of notes relating to the presidential campaign of 1852.