The Daniel L. Wells Papers, 1811-1904, consist mainly of family and business papers of Wells as a railroad contractor and manufacturer of railroad bridges and equipment, when he resided in Milwaukee from 1856 until his death. In his varied enterprises Wells was associated with a number of Milwaukee and Chicago firms, including Wells and French; Wells and Chamberlain; Wells, Harrison, and Shute; and Wells, Harrison, and Greene. In a few family letters in the late 1840s, Wells alluded very briefly to his interests in railroad construction in his native state of Vermont.
Ledgers, 1853-1878, a financial journal in the 1880s, five letterpress books, 1877-1884, and other unbound correspondence and financial records contain references to work he did for railroad lines in Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Dakota Territory from the 1850s to 1884. Some letters contain references also to his presidency of the Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Railroad, 1876-1879; his interest in promoting state legislation favorable to railroads; his investments in the Milwaukee Republican and News, in mining properties, and in real estate; and his speculations in the stock market.
Four small account books, 1869-1872, 1877-1883, record personal and family expenditures of Wells and his household. Two folders of miscellaneous family letters relate to Wells' wife, Helena Mary Lee, to their children, and to other members of the Lee and Wells families.
