As a highly-placed airshipman, Garland Fulton had a deep interest in the lifting gases used in LTA, hydrogen and helium. He collected material relating both to the physical nature of gases and also to the curious political aspects of helium that emerged in the 1920s and '30s. Fulton was a participant in the political controversy that arose when Hugo Eckener attempted to purchase helium (a monopoly of the US government) for the Zeppelin company following the destruction of the Hindenburg in 1937.