A close friend of Arthur Griffith, Cole was politically active during the revolutionary period and was interned in Reading, Frongoch and Gloucester during 1918-19. He was elected to the Dáil as a pro-Treaty deputy for Cavan in 1922 but lost his seat the following year. He was a successful businessman and had a shop on Little Green Street near the Angelsea Market, Dublin.

Collection of letters, photographs and ephemera concerning the political life of Alderman Walter Cole. Letters are mainly from Arthur Griffith to Walter Cole, concerning the arrangements for Sinn Féin meetings and other routine matters. Other items include letters written by Cole while interned in Reading Jail; photographs of Cole, Griffith, and Eamon de Valera; drawings by Cole of Arthur Griffith and of the interior of a cell in Wormwood Scrubs (21 July 1916) complete with a list of internees; Christmas card from Michael Collins; receipt for the rental of a meeting room in the Hotel Metropole for the first meeting regarding the foundation of Sinn Féin; and a police order to intern Cole in Frongoch.