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The collection provides a detailed account of Gillilan's life, and of Methodism in Ohio and Utah. The most significant items in the collection are Gillilan's thoroughly kept diaries. In addition, he was a meticulous keeper of scrapbooks, collecting many articles about Methodism and religion in his time. He was also a published author, and copies of many of his published poems and essays are present in the collection. It seems that he sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Strickland Gillilan. It is possible that this is a family member. In his collection are also present two threatening letters. One dates from 1886, and is from Gillilan's time in Tooele, Utah. It relates to issues of polygamy and Mormonism. The other is less specific, but threatens Gillilan' s "precious throat." Gillilan's papers contain approximately 2000 sets of sermon notes, numbered from 5 to 2394. The system by which these numbers were assigned is unknown. One of Gillilan's diaries, the largest, contains several pages of what seem to be land ownership claims and mining records. He may have obtained this book, already used, and subsequently used it for his journal. Another of his diaries contains several pages written in a substitution code, and several more in shorthand. The key to Gillilan's code is in the Diaries: General File. Many of the books and documents are fragile, and should be handled with extreme care.