Civil engineer and aviation pioneer. The bulk of the collection relates to Chanute's experiments with gliders and his scientific and financial support of aeronautical pioneers. Other papers concern his career as a builder of railroads and his service as chief engineer of the Erie Railroad and railroads in Illinois and Kansas.

H.H. Copeland and Son commissioned the materials that contain information about railroads in the United States from 1917 to 1958. The collection includes maps and data concerning railroad traffic density, tables on ton miles, freight density and traffic distribution, and other railway related tables and calculations. H. H. Copeland and Son were an investment house in existence from the late nineteenth century to around the mid 1950s. The materials were intended for their private use.