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EXHIBITS
The museum features three rotating exhibit rooms and several smaller exhibit areas. The museum strives to use our artifact collection to bring the stories of Champaign County alive in unique and engaging ways.
PAST EXHIBITS
Once an exhibit closes, it still lives online. Visit our past exhibits and continue exploring Champaign County's rich past.
Step back to 1939 and experience the lead-up to World War II and the local sacrifices on the homefront.
Champaign County: History Uncrated
Explore the more than 20,000+ artifacts in the museum collection through this engaging exhibit focused on why we save things, what we save, and how we preserve them for future generations.
The Harris Masion Heist: Oppulance to Depression 1929-1933
Be transported to the beautiful Harris Mansion on the night of Champaign's most infamous heist just days after the stock market crashed. Follow the turbulent three years that followed.
A Second Home: 150 Years of Student Living at the University of Illinois
This exhibit welcomes you into the dorm rooms at the University of Illinois in 1867, 1917, 1967, and 2017. Explore how student living evolved over those seminal time periods.
Ispirato da Torre di Civita: The Paintings of Marajen Stevick Chinigo
This exhibit highlights the paintings and extravagant life of former News-Gazette owner and publisher Marajen Stevick-Chinigo. The paintings were inspired by the beautiful landscapes from her mountaintop Italitan villa.
The Art of Louise Woodroofe
This exhibit explored one of Champaign County's most notable artists, Louise Woodroofe. Her art highlighted the fauvist movement and featured works from her time with the Ringling Bros. circus.
Zuppke en la Playa: Sketches of a Gridiron Great
This exhibit explores the life of legendary football coach Bob Zuppke and his 1946 trip to Cuba. There, he produced a series of sketches that are featured in the exhibit and attended the wedding of his good friend, novelist Ernest Hemingway.
Curtis Morris: A History Through Lines
Installed for the Boneyard Arts Festival in 2024 yearlong exhibition explored the life and artwork of unknown artist Curtis Morris. Morris was a long time employee of the G. R. Grubb Engraving Company in downtown Champaign as an illustrator and copper etcher. As a hobby Morris created illustrations of downtown Champaign between the 1960s and 1980s showcasing businesses and building.
This rotating exhibit featured some of Champaign's best current artists. Featured artists were given one exhibit room each month to showcase their work. The special exhibit program ran for two years from 2023 to 2024.