The Joseph Gertler French Glass Plates Collection is comprised of 115 glass plate positives and negatives depicting aircraft in France, circa 1917-1935. The majority of images are stereoscopic format.

The glass plates have been organized into eight sets based on original groupings. Sets one through six likely originated from the same source as there is overlap in subject matter. Sets one through four were originally housed in identical containers within a larger cardboard box. The box was inscribed in French handwriting: "100 Vues environ avions 1925/35 et Autogire" [100 views around 1925-35, planes and Autogiro]." Set five, consisting of 24 negatives and one positive, was stored separately in a a bag while set six, consisting of 12 stereoscopic negatives, was originally housed in a vintage stereoscopic slide box from Paris, France. The images in these setes depict aircaft in a field; aircraft in front of a hangar, some images with people present; airship frameworks; autogiros in front of a hangar; and a few images of planes in flight. The slides in sets one through six all measure 6x13 cm. Some are sepia toned.

Set seven contains four stereoscopic slides, slightly smaller than the rest at 4.25x10.5 cm. Two of these images include inscriptions in French. One depicts a French aircraft in Aisne, France in 1917. Another depicts a crashed German aircraft in northeastern France in 1918. The two uncaptioned images are perhaps from an air meet or other demonstration.

Set eight consists of nine 5x7-inch glass plate negatives. Eight of the images are portraits of aviators in or in front of aircraft. One image is an aerial view of another aircraft in flight.

Aircraft represented in the collection include models by Weymann, also known as Avions Weymann-Lepère.