The papers and documents in this manuscript collection represent a portion of the intellectual output of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness History Project. Other components include a collection of photographs and maps, a large collection of oral history interviews (the transcriptions of which are included in these papers), and the creation of a website. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness History Project was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and most work on the project was completed by mid-2013. The grant was awarded to Professor Debbie Lee, of Washington State University, and much of the filed archival research was completed by Dennis Baird, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho.

The bulk of the collection consists of photocopies of original documents and primary sources that remain the property of the National Archives, the U.S. Forest Service, and other state and public agencies. A few original documents are also included. The sources span the period between 1896 and c. 1964. It is the intention of the project's researchers that this will be a living and growing collection. Each document included in this manuscript group is carefully annotated as to provenance, with data provided as to document location and owner, record group, folder number, etc., along with the name of the collector and the date of collection for the project.

Several thousand hours were spent in the effort to locate a thorough and inclusive collection of primary source documents relating to the Selway country of Idaho and western Montana. Extensive research was done at these locations: National Archives (Washington D.C., College Park, Maryland, Denver, Colorado, and Seattle, Washington), the Library of Congress, and offices of the U.S. Forest Service located at Orofino, Fenn, Moose Creek, McCall, Salmon, Challis, and Grangeville, Idaho, as well as USFS offices in Missoula, Hamilton, and West Fork, Montana. Extensive research was also conducted at Ogden, Utah, and at the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise.