James Brisbin, a Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, native, served as an Army officer in the Civil War and the Indian Wars, 1868-1891. He was stationed at Fort Ellis, Fort Assiniboine, Fort Custer, Montana Territory, and many other western forts. Brisbin was also a writer and publicist. The collection contains a small amount of correspondence (1860-1890), and writings (1850-1891) concerning the Army, the Indian Wars, the West, and Montana Territory.

The Neil Fullerton Collection (1932-1968) consists primarily of research data collected by Neil Fullerton concerning the location of Saleesh House, the travels of early explorer David Thompson, the Nez Perce trek of 1877, Indian missions, the naming of local western Montana communities such as Thompson Falls, the early U.S. Forest Service, exploration and the fur trade in the Northwest, and northern Idaho.