The "General Appropriation Act of 1977," appropriated money for the Governor's Office to undertake treaty review and research of Indian Affairs in the State of Montana. In December 1977, the Governor's Office contracted with Historical Research Associates (HRA) of Missoula, Montana, to conduct research into treaties, statutes, and executive orders affecting Montana reservations. Particular emphasis was to be placed on those documents concerning reservation establishment and boundary delineation. A few months after the award of this contract, the Governor's Office expanded the project to issues involving Indian hunting and fishing rights. HRA staff reseachers began work on the treaty review and research project in December, 1977. Following the compilation of documents involving boundary and/or fishing issues, staff researchers began an investigation of various annual reports of Indian agents in Montana.

In addition, a researcher traveled to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and to the Seattle Federal Records Center in Seattle, Washington, to investigate archival documents relating to Indian affairs. Concomitant with the collection of archival documents, a researcher prepared legislative histories for some 50 significant treaties, acts and executive orders. By early spring, 1979, some 15,000 pages of documents had been collected and organized by project team members. At this point, research historians began compiling brief overviews of treaties, statutes and executive orders that affected various Montana reservations. In June, 1979, the Governor's Office contracted with HRA to supervise the microfilming of all documents. That process was completed in October of 1980.