The papers consist primarily of family correspondence. The letters from the Colman and Spier families in New York deal principally with family and local church affairs in Northampton, Osburn Bridge, and Northville.
Son Henry Colman's letters are a valuable source of information on early Methodism in Wisconsin. There are letters from Lawrence University in 1854-1855 where he was a student and from Evansville Academy in 1863-1867 where he and his wife were principal and preceptress, and later letters from a number of Wisconsin towns where he served as pastor.
Elihu, too, wrote a great many letters from Lawrence in the years 1858-1864. His later letters are from Fond du Lac where he became established as a lawyer and U.S. District Attorney.
A typed transcription of Charles L. Colman's diaries, 1854-1857, describe his journey from Fond du Lac to La Crosse in 1854 with a shingle machine. These diaries trace the beginning of the extensive Colman Lumber Company of La Crosse. The entries in the diaries are brief and deal principally with affairs concerning the operation of his machine -- prices of equipment, labor, provisions, amounts cut, names of employees, etc. He names the people at whose places he stopped en route to La Crosse and on a trip to St. Louis in the spring of 1857. He also makes occasional mention of trips to nearby towns, of the arrival of boats, and of political gatherings. Also present is a biographical sketch of Charles L. Colman.
