This collection consists of letters written by members of the Chapin family of East Calais and North Montpelier, Vermont, between 1881 and 1943. Most of the letters were written by family members to Emma May Chapin (called May) of East Calais between 1927 and 1943. The letters are chatty and full of family news.

The two oldest letters in the collection (1881 and 1895) are those written to Diane Goodell Chapin in North Montpelier by her sister and one of her children.

The collection includes photocopied obituaries for Walter Chapin and his daughter, Pearl, as well as a handwritten 1943 list of May Chapin's children and their birth years.

Walter A. Chapin (March 27, 1874 - January 18, 1925) was born in Calais, the son of Henry A. and Emma Davidson Chapin. His great grandfather, John A. Chapin, born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, in 1790, settled in Calais in 1832.

Walter Chapin married Emma May Wheeler September 17, 1895. Their children were: Pearl (August 30, 1896 - October 9, 1921); Emma (b. 1906); Dorothy or Dora (b. 1909); Anna O. (b. 1917); Merle W. (b. 1902); John A. (b. 1904); Bernice E. (b. November 20, 1907); and Bruce (b. November 16, 1915).

Walter's brother, Alvin M. Chapin, married Diana Goodell. They lived in North Montpelier between 1881 and 1895.