The bulk of this collection is comprised of the Brookings County Sentinel, the Brookings Daily Press, the Brookings County Press and the Brookings Register mostly in their entirety from the 1880s to 2003. The newspapers are arranged by date and issue. Dates for each paper vary, with most beginning in the 1880s. The Miscellaneous newspapers series is composed of many issues of the South Dakota State Collegian in this collection, as well as many Anniversary papers from around the eastern side of South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.

This collection consists mainly of Brookings Telephone Directories. Also included are:

• Farm directories
• Campus directories for South Dakota State University
• City directories published by Johnson's and the Directory Service Company
• Northeast Lake Regional telephone directories
• Deuel Telephone Regional Directory
• Brookings Lake Regional Telephone Directories
• Official Telephone Directory of Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc.
• East Central Dakota Directory
• Yellow Book (McLeod USA) for Sioux Falls/Brookings/ Vermillion/Yankton.

The Compiled Data series is composed of data compiled by George and Evelyn Norby and recorded into various databases. Material in this collection consists of data about the city of Brookings with a small amount covering Brookings County and South Dakota.

Composed of material was compiled by George Norby and covers Brookings (S.D.) related topics and includes businesses, historic homes, churches, city and county government, and South Dakota State University.

As noted by George Norby within the collection, information compiled in these databases is as accurate as possible and was gathered from the following sources:

• Brookings County Press
• Brookings Register
• Brookings County Sentinel
• Brookings telephone directories and business directories
• Brookings City publications
• Brookings County election returns
• Brookings County Commission minutes
• Records in the Brookings County Register of Deeds office

While this material is quite extensive, it is recommended that researchers verify information from more than one source in order to conduct an accurate search.

This series is composed of Brookings city and county related business cards, business envelopes, signs, ribbons, and other related items, most of which relate to Brookings City or County. Folders contain items such as bumper stickers, business cards, calendars, envelopes, framed images, matchbooks, postcards, ribbons and badges, and signs.

Composed of information related to the Norby business, Images of the Past and personal material such as correspondence and photographs.

The Subject Files are composed of material that covers a variety of topics including; Brookings city and county, organizations, churches, businesses, residential, persons, South Dakota State University and more. It is suggested that researchers consult both the city and county files as some material crosses over into both groups. There is also limited information on South Dakota and areas outside of Brooking County.