The Russian Aviation Collection documents 20th century Soviet and Russian aviators and aviation accomplishments, including the Soviet Transpolar Flight of 1937 as well as the Douglas World Cruisers of 1924, with photographs, clippings, articles, and photographic reproductions of various textual materials.

The Russian Transpolar Flight Collection primarily documents the June 1937 transpolar flight by Russian aviators Valery Chkalov, Georgii Baidukov, and V. Belydakov with photographs, clippings, audio-visual materials, and various textual materials. It also features a small amount of material about the July 1937 transpolar flight by Russian aviators M. Gromov, Sergei Danilin, and Andrei Yumashev, as well as general Russia-related research materials.