The Alfred E. Aiken papers consist of eight original letters he wrote from 1885 to 1890 to his sister, Sabra Jane "Jennie" Aiken who was living in Frewsburg, New York. The letters were sent from Poplar Creek and Dawson County, Montana, and Fort Buford, North Dakota, and describe his impressions of the country, the military garrison at Poplar Creek, members of the tribes on the nearby reservation, incidents of ranch life, and family news. The letters are supplemented by a biographical essay, "A Cowpuncher's Prairie Romance," written by Aiken's granddaughter, Evelyn J. Aiken Jones, when she was a student at Montana State University.