The Elsie Anderson Collection primarily relates to Boeing aircraft and test flights during the 1940s-1950s. The collection is comprised of negatives, films, photographic prints, and a small amount of textual materials, likely collected by Anderson during her time as a Boeing employee.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of sixty-two (62) black-and-white photographic negatives featuring mostly Boeing aircraft, although there are other manufacturers as well, including Douglas and Curtiss. Specific aircraft include Boeing Model 314 Clipper, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Boeing B-50, Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, Curtiss C-46F Commando, and Douglas DC-3. Aircraft are featured in flight and on the ground. Two (2) images feature named planes; the Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Noah's Arc"[sic] and the nose of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Andy Gump."

There are also several negatives featuring various aircraft crashes, including the 1949 crashes at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington of Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter (45-59594) and Douglas DC-3 (NC 79025), as well as the 1949 crash of a Curtiss C-46F Commando (N 5075N) in Georgetown, Seattle, Washington. Other images depict assorted aerial shots within the Puget Sound region.

The collection also has six (6) loose black-and-white photographs, most of which are 8x10", though one is slightly larger. Five (5) of the images have Boeing stamps and/or numbers printed on the reverse of the image. Three (3) of the photographs feature the Boeing XF8B-1 in flight with Robert "Bob" Lawson in the pilot's seat. Additionally there are two (2) copies of an image featuring three pilots, A. Elliot Merrill, Ken Luplow, and John Fornasero, in the cockpit of a Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter. Each of the men has signed the photograph. One (1) image features four pilots preparing for Boeing B-17 test flight as they stand in front of the Boeing Flight Test Laboratory. The pilots are Charles E. (Chuck) Blaine, A.C. Reed, W.F. Milliken, and Edward I. Wersebe. There is also one (1) photographic reproduction print of the Boeing Model 314 Clipper on water take-off, likely from a magazine cover.

Textual materials include two (2) accident investigation reports from the Civil Aeronautics Board, relased in 1949 and 1950. The May 4, 1949 report corresponds to the negatives of the January 2, 1949 Douglas DC-3 crash while the August 30, 1950 report corresponds to the negatives of the July 19, 1949 Curtiss C-46F Commando crash. Both reports have accompanying newspaper clippings from the San Francisco Chronicle. All of these materials are photocopies.

Finally, the collection contains eight (8) films; two (2) are 8mm and six (6) are 16mm. The original labels are still on the canisters. The first six in the following list are 16mm films, while the last two are 8mm films: