The collection incorporates 2,300 photographs drawn from the extensive collections of the University of Washington Libraries, the Cheney Cowles Museum/Eastern Washington State Historical Society in Spokane, and the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. Most of the photographs date from before 1920. Primary text sources include six Indian treaties negotiated in 1855 and over 3,800 pages from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior from 1851 through 1908. Secondary sources include 89 articles from the Pacific Northwest Quarterly and 23 papers from the University of Washington Publications in Anthropology series. A few additional photographs and articles were sought from other institutions and added to the collection to complement the topical essays.