Mr. Brillhart was born August 10, 1911 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He received his schooling at Pennsylvania State University and the New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse University. During his forty-year career with the Forest Service, he was employed as a forester at six national forests. In Alaska, from 1939-1951, he served as District Ranger in Sitka and Forest Supervisor of Tongass National Forest stationed in Juneau. He photographed Forest Service personnel in the field, the White Pass & Yukon Railroad and Southeast communities and outlying areas, including Hoonah, Pelican, Elfin Cove, Yakutat, and Tenakee Inlet. There are also some photographs of Hope and the Kenai Peninsula area.

Mr. Brillhart writes, "during World War II the Forest Service C.C.C. program employed approximately 400 enrollees on the Tongass National Forest...The program was closed down very early in 1942." A copy of "Impact of World War II on the U.S. Forest Service in Southeast Alaska" by Mr. Brillhart follows this introduction. Several views of C.C.C. work in Southeast show trail work at Hoonah, the totem restoration project at Sitka National Monument in 1940, and structures built at Ketchikan, Skagway and Juneau.

John Brillhart retired to Oregon in 1973.