The Elaine P. Austin Northwest Orient Airlines (NWA) Flight Attendant Collection is relatively small and comprised of primarily textual materials with some photographs. The bulk of the material was collected by Austin during her flight attendant career with Northwest Orient Airlines from 1960-1965.

Textual materials include a large amount of stewardess training materials, including instructions for various safety procedures, aircraft layouts, and assorted work sheets from stewardess courses. There is also a small undated booklet, The Story of Distilled Beverages prepared for Cabin Attendants of Northwest Orient Airlines.. Additional materials include a NWA decal, a business card for Austin, two oversize blank postcards, and two small NWA posters.

Additionally 6 scrapbook pages are present, which are a mix of printed ephemera, primarily in the form of clippings, cartoons, and leaflets, and a small amount of photographs. Most material is affixed to the pages with glue or photo corners though some items are coming loose. Some of the material has very brief handwritten captions under the item, such as names, dates, or locations. Topics center on NWA and being a stewardess. The photographs feature Austin, as well as other people, and are a mix of candid and posed.

Additionally there are 4 loose photographs; three in color and one in black-and-white. The three color images are 3.5x3.5". One image features Austin in her stewardess uniform. The other two are aerial shots, with handwritten captions on the reverse: "Rockies between Great Falls & Billings, 1962" and "Mt. Rainer, 1922." The black-and-white photograph is a 8x10" group portrait, likely of a graduation of a group of flight attendants. It is stamped on the reverse: "Please credit Northwest Orient Airlines - Photo - Robert R. Blanch Photography." Handwritten in pencil is the number 24544, which may be the print number. Note that this photograph might have come loose from one of the scrapbook pages, as there is an empty space that corresponds with this size image.