The Delaware Project was run by the Indiana Historical Society, with major support, funding and influence from industrialist and philanthropist Eli Lilly. Lilly had an academic interest in archeology, and funded archeological research and sites in the state of Indiana. He believed that the Lenape Indians had at one point inhabited Indiana and the 19th century discovery of the Walam Olum proved Delaware inhabitation. The Walam Olum is believed to be a historical and mythological tradition of the Lenape Indians discovered in Indiana in 1836 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. Translated from a series of pictorials by Rafinesque, the Walam Olum chronicles the Lenape's movements into North America and across the eastern half of the United States. However, contemporary research has given evidence that the document is inconclusive.

A group of Indiana archeologists, headed by Eli Lilly, formed the Delaware Project (1946-1952) with the interest in validating the Walam Olum as a legitimate history of the Lenape. The project hoped to identify the material culture of the Delaware Indians in their historical homeland to be able to look for traces of Lenape inhabitation of Indiana, and prove that they were present in Indiana and that the Walam Olum had been left there during their migrations.

While not explicitly involved in the project, James B. Griffin served the project in an administrative capacity. His knowledge of pottery and ceramics, demonstrated in his book, The Fort Ancient Aspect served the project in the identification of a Lenape material culture.