The Spirit River Settlement Historical Society History Book Committee was formed in order to begin work on a Spirit River community history book. The plan was to include the areas not represented already in other community histories. In 1987 the committee established an office and opened every Wednesday for inquiries and/or volunteer help. The committee was soon working in the evenings too. The first tasks were creating lists of names and organizations and convincing people that their stories and photographs were important to the success of the project. The target date for publication was the summer of 1989. Their main worry was funding as the book, estimated to be 750 pages, was estimated to cost between 50 and 60 dollars each. They were soon preselling by asking for and getting deposits which offered a chance to win a free copy of the published book. A column in the local paper, "The Signal" kept the public informed by their "History Book Update "column which included phone numbers for Jean Gurnett (editor), Helen Sideroff and Isabel Thompson in case people had questions about how to write their family history. It also provided a place to list names of people the committee needed to find and to published deadlines for submissions. They applied for and received a New Horizons grant from the federal government and succeeded in getting the book Chepi Sepe (960 pages) printed in the fall of 1989.

The series consists of the History Book Committee records which include planning documents, financial records, minutes and correspondence, and original and/ or edited copies of submissions to the Spirit River history book Chepi Sepe. Subseries 4-13 record the history of the region and the Spirit River Settlement area, the coming of settlers and the growth of agriculture, businesses, industries, municipal governments, schools, churches, medical facilities, and the history of cultural and recreational groups. Also documented are the area's veterans of WWI and WWII, The main body of the records, subseries 13, contains original and/or edited copies of over 630 family histories arranged in files in alphabetical order by surname.