The collection is comprised of research materials created by Kay Veith, Kathryn Monger and C. Thomas Chapman, James Madison University students who took courses taught by Dr. Clarence Geier, professor of Anthropology. Their research contributed to the book, "North River Gap – Stokesville, Augusta County, Virginia: A Selected Genealogy and Oral History of Residents," authored by Kay Veith, with contributions by Carole Nation and Clarence Geier, published in 1996. The project was a joint venture between members of the JMU history and anthropology departments, and the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of Roanoke. Photograph scans were made from photographs belonging to individuals that participated in field survey.

Dr. Clarence Geier is a professor emeritus of Anthropology at James Madison University, where one of his primary research areas was the archeology of the American Civil War, specifically in the Shenandoah Valley. Kay Veith, who conducted many of the oral histories in this collection, was a student at JMU in the mid-1990s. Veith was a member of the Massanutten Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia, where she served as Secretary and chief organizer. Veith conducted fieldwork on many projects, including the Shenandoah National Park Archaeological Survey Program in the early 2000s. James Madison University established the Kay Veith Field Archeology Award to support young archeologists. Kathryn Monger undertook the geneology project on Reba Sirk Floyd.