Carpenter, who specialized in the Reconstruction Period following the American Civil War, published biographies of Oliver Otis Howard and Ulysses S.
After serving for three years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Carpenter completed a master's degree at Columbia University in 1947.
During his faculty career, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Carpenter grants to fund his research on the Freedmen's Bureau.
[10] In 1967, Carpenter spoke about "Stephen A. Douglas and the Election of 1860" at the convocation program at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
The collection includes manuscripts, typescripts, research notes, reviews of Carpenter's books, his articles and lectures, and other materials.