The Joan Mettler Early Aviation Collection is a small collection consisting of two items: a photograph album documenting early Boeing aircraft from 1916-1929 and a report entitled “War Department Air Corps Materiel [sic] Division Dayton, Ohio Report on Aircraft Fire Prevention” from 1927.

The photograph album includes 121 7.75x9.75" black-and-white prints picturing aircraft built by the Boeing Company from 1916-1929. The majority of photos show side or 3/4-views of the aircraft with little else in the images. A variety of aircraft are depicted including military models, mail planes, and planes with markings for United Airlines, Pacific Air Transport and Pan American Airlines and some others. A few images show aircraft inside Boeing assembly plants, some photos include some factory workers, and one image depicts the original plant (the "Red Barn") along the Duwamish in 1918. All images are dated and the majority have the aircraft identified on the back of the print.

The report on fire prevention is a 69-page document with the stated objective of reporting on a study of a series of tests "to determine the cause and provide preventative measures in aircraft to eliminate the hazard from fire in the air or in the event of a crash." Based on the results of the study, the report provides recommendations for stuctural, electrical, fuel and oil, and exhaust systems, and for placing fire extinguishers on all aircraft. The report is printed via cyanotype or blueprint process. It has 32 black-and-white photographic prints tipped in, illustrating specific parts and tests on De Havilland D.H.4 aircraft in progress.