On July 18, 1917, flight training began at Chanute Field in Rantoul, Illinois. For the next 76 years, Chanute was a fixture in Champaign County, trading in flight training to become a major technical training installation for the United States Air Force. This image shows a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplane just over the open expanse of Chanute's flying field.

A whistle post was installed along a railroad line about a quarter mile before a road crossing. It signaled the engineer to sound the train locomotive's horn, or whistle, as a warning that the train was approaching the crossing.

This Kellogg 500 model gold-colored telephone commemorated the 1000th telephone of this type sold by the Champaign Telephone Company in 1968. The Kellogg 500 model first sold in the 1940s and remained popular for nearly half a century. Its unique features are the square body and placement of the numbers and letters outside the dial.

In 1918, a Spanish influenza pandemic swept the world, the deadliest in human history. This photo, from the Stanley B. Evans scrapbook, was taken in the YMCA at Rantoul's Chanute Field in 1918. The handkerchiefs worn over the face, some rather jauntily, were an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.

The Doris K. Wylie Hoskins Archive for Cultural Diversity documents the African-American experience in Champaign County and east central Illinois. Doris Wylie Hoskins amassed this valuable resource throughout her life. This greeting card, published by the National Council of Negro Women, was sent to Doris’ daughter on her birthday in September 1995.