The pioneer sketches are in one bound volume in Box 1 and on unfoldered pages in Box 2. These sketches deal with the writer's trip from Massachusetts to Indiana in 1835, the year he spent as an Indiana schoolmaster, his arrival at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in 1836, and his subsequent life in that region and in Reedsburg. They describe numerous incidents of pioneer life, early privations, schools, churches, temperance societies, abolition sentiment, hotels, mail service, roads, and other topics. There are also historical sketches of separate townships and of county leaders and a number of letters written mostly in 1867 in response to letters from Dwinnell or to his printed questionnaire on early church history. Sketches of Reedsburg in the Civil War complete this portion of the the collection. Many of the sketches are in the form of newspaper clippings from the Reedsburg Free Press and these form the contents of the bound volume. A bibliography compiled by Darrel Hanold is also present.
The earliest item in the collection is the diary of Dwinnell's grandfather; the original diary, a photostat copy, and a typed transcription are all present. The diary dates 1775-1777 when he engaged in the battles of White Plains, Morristown, Princetown, Saratoga, and many others. The 1834-1836 diary kept by the younger Dwinnell contains reflections on religious matters while attending an academy in Millbury, Massachusetts and teaching school near South Bend, Indiana. The Walworth County Temperance Society records are a few sheets containing the constitution and minutes, 1839-1841.
