Materials depict the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra piloted by Howard Hughes from 1936 to 1939. Along with a crew consisting of Harry Connor, Tom Thurlow, Richard Stoddart, and Ed Lund, Hughes flew the Super Electra on a global circumnavigation flight. On July 10, 1938, Hughes and the crew departed Floyd Bennett Field in New York and flew to Paris, France, Moscow, Russia, Omsk, Russia, Yakutsk, Russia, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Minneapolis, Minnesota before landing back in New York on July 14.

Materials depict Howard Hughes at the U.S. Senate Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program hearings in 1947. The special committee, also called the Truman Committee, began investigating Howard Hughes's defense contracts after the Second World War. Hughes had been unable to produce feasible prototypes for the HK-1 Hercules (also known as the H-4 Hercules, "Spruce Goose," or "Flying Boat") as well as the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft, despite spending $22 million. The materials depict Hughes giving testimony, answering questions, and having verbal exchanges with Senators Owen Brewster, Claude D. Pepper, and Homer Ferguson. The photographs also depict Hughes in conversation with his attorney T. A. Slack and Noah Dietrich, Chief Executive Officer of the Hughes Corporation.

Materials depict Howard Hughes during various ventures from 1930 to 1950. The photographs depict Trans World Airlines planes, the crash site of Hughes's Sikorsky S-43 in Lake Mead, Nevada, aircraft construction, portraits, unidentified aircraft, events, Hughes during the production of the film The Outlaw, and Hughes speaking with members of the press.