The Clarke C. Cole Alaska Airlines Pilot Collection is a small collection of materials related to Cole’s personal family life, service in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and his career as a pilot with Alaska Airlines from 1947-1971. The materials date from 1903-1966 and are predominantly comprised of photographs, with a small amount of textual materials. The textual component of the collection includes clippings, correspondence from Cole to his wife, Blanche K. Cole, and children while he flew as a pilot with Alaska Airlines, along with printed ephemera collected by Cole during his flights.

The collection contains 145 black-and-white photographic prints, one color photograph, and four examples of hand-tinted photographs depicting formal portraits of Cole in his Army uniform, as well as portraits of his mother. There are an additional 12 digital print copies of photographs in the collection. The images illustrate both his personal and professional life through snapshots taken of Cole and by Cole throughout the years. The materials illuminate Cole’s family life and history, his bond with his mother, friends, his wife and children. There is a small album titled “Our Baby” that captures the story of Cole’s youth. The album was created by Cole’s mother and is a composition of baby, family, and school photographs, along with hand-written notes that contain genealogical information.

In addition, the collection includes a scrapbook created by Cole that consists of a small number of clippings, postcards, and printed ephemera but mostly contains images of Cole with family and friends at social engagements, traveling to Hawaii and Mexico, his wedding day, his wife, along with images of their children. There are pictures of him in his military uniform and a group photograph of his cohort during their training at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. There are also numerous images of Cole during his early days as a pilot with Cordova Air Services and Alaska Airlines, many of which were taken during his involvement in airlift operations. There are photographs of Douglas DC-4 aircraft with Alaska Airlines insignia, crew members, and of Cole taking in scenes of local while stationed abroad, particularly when he was working out of Hong Kong, China.