Setton oversaw the work of over sixty specialists, covering 98 topics on the full gamut of Crusader studies, reflecting of the concurrent state of the knowledge, with timelines, gazetteers and indexes.
The work may be today regarded as uneven in parts and at times dated, but remains as an important resource in the study of the various aspects of crusading history, with fine maps, bibliographies and toponymic details.
[13] The inception was realized by students of Munro's, including Frederic Duncalf, together with John L. LaMonte and German historian August C. Krey.
They were joined by such historians as Aziz S. Atiya, Marshall W. Baldwin, T. S. R. Boase, Claude Cahen, H. A. R. Gibb, Philip K. Hitti, Urban T. Holmes, Jr., Joan Mervyn Hussey, Bernard Lewis, Sidney Painter, Joshua Prawer, Jean Richard, Denis Sinor, Joseph Reese Strayer, Robert L. Wolff and Norman P. Zacour in writing the comprehensive history.
[14] LaMonte's leadership on the project ended with his death in 1949, and the lead was assumed by Setton at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950.