Abstract: The Colwell-Dorset Family were prominent pioneers in La Crosse, Wis., originating from New England. Key family members include Nannie Hammer who married Capt. Wilson Colwell, who was killed in the Battle of South Mountain in 1862 during the Civil War. They had one daughter together also named Nannie Colwell. The widow Nannie Colwell then married Rev. C. P. Dorset, an Episcopal minister. The couple had several children together: Marian, Helen, and Bernard Dorset. The collection has been divided up into four series: personal correspondence, business correspondence, genealogical notes, and miscellany. Because of the long span of correspondence, everyday family life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the Midwest is well documented. The papers consist mainly of correspondence among members of the Colwell-Dorset family. There are also some travel diaries, business correspondence, genealogy material, and miscellany.