The Commercial Airlines Collection is an artificial collection comprised of textual, visual, and audiovisual materials related to commercial airlines from around the world, 1910s-2020s. Although international airlines are represented, American-based airlines are far more heavily represented, including a significant number of small regional, and often defunct, airlines. Materials come from various sources.

The bulk of the collection is textual materials, including advertisements, such as magazine ads; promotional brochures, booklets, and fliers; menus and in-flight entertainment guides, including duty-free shopping information; route maps; safety cards and brochures; stationery, air mail labels, and postcards; tickets, boarding passes, and luggage tags; frequent flyer program materials, including special offers and membership documents; and timetables and flight schedules, including fare information. There are also folders of assorted printed ephemera, including but not limited to, business cards, calendars, children's activity materials, souvenir flight reports, and matchbook covers.

The collection also contains visual materials, including photographs, slides, negatives, and photographic postcards as well as posters, lithographs, and artwork. Major topics depicted include aircraft in airline livery; flight attendants, pilots, and to a far lesser extent, ground crew and airline executives; and advertisements, such as billboards; buildings, office space, and events. A number of advertisements, including photographs and brochures, depict locations and activities a visitor could experience on their travels. Most of the photographs are publicity shots and are black-and-white, although some are in color. Some photographs includes stamps and or captions to provide context. Sizes vary, although most are 8x10-inches.

Of particular note are illustrations by Fred Takasumi for Delta Airlines and a lithographic reproduction of the painting "Frontier Rose" by artist R.C. Gorman, for Frontier Airlines. There is one audio item: a 33 RPM sound recording of a speech by Bob Crandall, Senior Vice President of Marketing for American Airlines.

While most of the collection is dedicated to airlines, some materials relate to professional agencies that may have provided support or services, such as fuel, to the commercial airline industry and worked with multiple airlines. Companies include, but are not limited to, the Air Transportation Association of America, the Australia National Airlines Commission, the Railway Express Agency, Texaco, and the United States Postal Service. Types of material include, but are not limited to, brochures, frequent flyer materials, posters, and route maps.