James H. Childers (1903-65) was born in Tennessee and according to the census achieved a fourth grade education.  He joined the GM&O Railroad in 1926, the same year he wed Mary Holt.  Childers served as a work section foreman, the source of most of the materials in this collection.  He lived in McLean, IL, from 1937 onward.

The collection includes the foreman’s time books that Childers kept plus letters, railroad work passes, blueprints for improvements to the Bloomington railway platform, 1938 Alton Railroad maintenance workers contact, details of a 1951 workplace accident and its settlement, leases from the railroad for his home, etc.