The Terence R. Mitchell Collection of Aviation Trading Cards is comprised of nearly 1,000 1910-1960s-era trading and cigarette cards, collected by Mitchell from the 1970s-2015. The cards are mainly from the United States, but some were produced in Australia, Great Britain, and New Zealand. Images on the cards in this collection are primarily aviation-related and feature aircraft. Aircraft depicted range widely from early aviation to jets. Also included to a lesser degree are other forms of transportation, including trains, ships, cars, and motorcycles; pilots, astronauts, and space-related projects and crafts.

The cards were produced by a variety of companies, including tobacco and or cigarette companies, gum and or candy sellers, flour and sugar manufacturers, shoes companies, and gasoline companies, as collectibles to help promote sales of their products. Often the companies issued the cards in thematic series, such as types of aircraft or notable persons, to encourage customers to by more products as they tried to complete their series of cards. Within this collection there are 15 separate issuers with a total of 998 cards. Examples of company names and related products include, but are not limited to: Fountain Flour, Oxford Cigarettes, Plasitowe's Travel Toffee, Shell Gasoline, Sky-Birds Chewing Gum, and Will's Cigarettes. Within this collection, the cards are grouped by issuer. The cards vary in size from 2.5x3-inches to 3x4-inches and include a front illustration or photographic reproduction. Many are in color but some are in black-and-white or sepia-tone. Context is generally included either on the front or back of the card, along with a vendor name or mark. Some cards are blank on the verso.