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THE HISTORY CENTER BLOG

  • Fri, May 05, 2023 6:36 PM | Anonymous

    CELEBRATE ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE!

    Learn more local history at thehistorycenter.net/aapi-heritage-month

    Tompkins County's first recorded residents of Asian descent date to the mid 1800's. Immigrants from the Pacific Islands came in more limited numbers in the twentieth century.

    The first Asian business on record, a Chinese laundry opened by John and Mahong Lee as early as 1885, was located at 105 N. Aurora St in downtown Ithaca. Many early Asian residents came to the area to study at Cornell University, or to support family members and children studying at the college. Cornell’s first Japanese student, Kanaye Nagasawa (birth name Hikosuke Isonaga) was one of the first eight recorded Japanese individuals to come to the United States.

    President George H. W. Bush designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month on May 7, 1990, following the passage of Pub. L. 101-283 by Congress. This law also recognized the significance of May 7th and May 10th in the history of Asian and Pacific Islanders.

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    #TompkinsHistory #AAPI #asianhistory #asianheritagemonth #pacificislander #asian #asianamerican #aapimonth

  • Fri, May 05, 2023 6:35 PM | Anonymous

    CELEBRATE JEWISH HERITAGE & CULTURE!

    Learn more local history at thehistorycenter.net/jewish-heritage-month

    The earliest record of Jewish settlement in Tompkins County is the grave of Morris Lubliner, who was buried in April 1856 in the city cemetery on University Avenue.

    By 1900 the Jewish population began to grow and become more established. Services were held in private homes and hired halls, with visiting rabbis. Congregation Chevra Kadisha began in 1906 in the home of Isidor Rocker, as a liberal group. Agudath Achim, an orthodox congregation, was organized in 1921, and the two groups combined in 1924 to form Congregation Beth-El. Both Jewish and Christian members of the community participated in fundraising for a temple. The B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation, which had decided to organize a chapter at Cornell, joined the effort and agreed to sponsor a rabbi for both the community and students. Temple Beth-El opened in 1929 at 402 N. Tioga St., with Rabbi Isidor Hoffman as its first rabbi.

    Jewish American Heritage Month began in 1980 with the passage of Pub. L. 96-237, which requested that the president designate a week in April or May as 'Jewish Heritage Week.' In 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month to celebrate the history of Jewish Americans and provide opportunities to educate the public about Jewish culture.
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    #TompkinsHistory #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth #JewishHeritageMonth #jewishhistory #jewishculture #ithacany #tompkinscounty

  • Wed, April 26, 2023 1:06 PM | Anonymous

    New & Noteworthy Collections


    Barbara Palmer Quick - Photograph Collection
    In 1980 a student in a Visual Anthropology class at Cornell was given an assignment to create an extended  portrait of a businesswoman in Ithaca. The result was an interesting and insightful album of photographs and text documenting the life and work of Barbara Palmer Quick, a hairdresser in Collegetown.

    Barbara went to Bethel Grove School, a one-room schoolhouse on Slaterville Road, and Ithaca High School, and later trained at the Bradford Academy, a Beauty School in New York City. After her schooling she began working for her mother-in-law at her beauty shop on College Avenue, and took over the business when she died.  Like many women in any era, Barbara learned how to juggle the competing needs of family (she raised her three sons) and work, and did it, to all appearances, with skill and aplomb. She was not only expert with her scissors, she was also adept at the logistical and financial management of her business. Family struggles and tragedies barely slowed her down, and she seemed to embrace the best of life, enjoying travel and the friendship and support of long-time customers and friends. 

    This sympathetic and thoughtful window into Barbara Quick's life and work is a vivid reminder of the often unseen and unsung service workers who buttress modern society.

    For further questions or to make an appointment to visit the research library email archives@thehistorycenter.net
  • Fri, April 07, 2023 2:08 PM | Anonymous

    History Center will be closed on Saturday May 6th - In honor of:

    The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ and Deyodi:ho:nǫˀ People and Tutelo Park
    May 6, 2023, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. @ Tutelo Park
    SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

    Hosted by Town of Ithaca with input from Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ representatives as well as those from other Haudenosaunee nations. This program is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Tompkins County Tourism program. The Town’s Conservation Board is also a supporter.

    In 2008, there was a “Native American Homecoming Festival” at the park. This May 2023 event will offer new ways of thinking about Tutelo Park and will highlight layers of meaning that the land holds. Further, the event will serve as a prelude to adding features to Tutelo Park over the next few years."

  • Fri, April 07, 2023 2:06 PM | Anonymous

    Found ourself in stitches of fun in March, learning the basics of sewing machines with Librarian Cady Fontana at the Tompkins County Public  Library MakerSpace, and supporting over 100 fae folk during Spring Fairy Fest in making their own fairy quilts with us! We have more textile workshops, and quilting history programs on the horizon, we hope to have you join us!

    Upcoming Quilt Programs

    Thur - April 6th Introduction to Quilting: Mini Quilt Tops w/ Cady Fontana at the TCPL MakerSpace (Registration required)

    Thurs - April 13th - Quilted w/ Care 1996 Retrospective @ Tompkins Center - 4-5:30pm. Panelists include: Two Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance founders, Anne McLaughlin & Andi Gladstone; and Quilted with Care organizers Kristin Thompson & Brigid Hubberman.

    Weds - April 26th - CHAT - Is the Ithaca Kitty the first Calico Cat? @Tompkins Center 5:15-6:15pm

  • Fri, March 31, 2023 1:06 PM | Anonymous

    Request for Community Images at Ithaca Farmers Market for their 50th Celebration!


    2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Ithaca Farmers Market (IFM)! The Market is planning to showcase their history in photos, to recognize  our vendors and their years at market, and thank the community for their support over the decades. IFM has enjoyed a strong and loyal customer base that has helped vendors grow their farms and businesses and has made IFM one of the top markets in the state and one of the area's top tourism destinations.  

    To document this history, they are looking for Ithaca Market photos from the past through the present time.  We are planning to use photos in a variety of ways - to display at market, in our new cookbook, and in exhibits and permanent collections at The History Center and other locations later in the year.  

    Photographers Robyn Wishna and Allison Usavage have volunteered to curate the photo exhibit for the market to help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary. They have lots of great ideas for ways to showcase our market history, but we need your old Market photos to do it! 

    Look for pictures of you and your family shopping at any of our market locations, pictures of our vendors or their products, people enjoying lunch and the waterfront location, artisan creations, and photos of any of the events we’ve hosted over the years including the Rutabaga Curl!   

    If you would like to share your photos of the Ithaca Farmers Market over the years, you can upload them to our easy online form here:  https://forms.gle/vswNc4X9K8ZQe1Wu5.

    You can also email Monika Roth (mr55@cornell.edu), President of Friends of the Ithaca Farmers Market, to set up a time to drop them off in person (we will scan them and get them back to you). 

    Thank you for taking a look through your photo albums and collections!
  • Sat, March 11, 2023 6:13 PM | Anonymous

    Rabakozi

    The Rabakozi region is located in the western part of Hungary, between the Raba and the Danube Rivers. This Rabakozi folk embroidery style shows strong Renaissance and Ottoman influences. The earliest known examples are from the early 19th century. The designs usually show a bouquet of carnations standing in a so-called “Italian Jug” and flanked by peacocks. The carnations are presumed to be an Ottoman decorative motif, because they were not known in Europe before the Ottoman conquest and the subsequent cultural interaction. The flowers standing in a vase were traditionally part of church paintings depicting the Annunciation. Originally, this style was embroidered in muted colors with vegetable-dyed wool thread and, in some cases, monochrome red. When embroidering became common again in the late 1950s, the use of the red color was encouraged. The original embroideries decorated sheet edges. The rectangular pillowcase is a reinterpretation of the design for a decorative item suitable for a city home.


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    In 2010 The History Center hosted the exhibit 'Hungarian Embroideries and Folk Art' from the collection of Hungarian-Ithaca Eniko Farkas. This exhibit included #matyo, #kalocsa, #sarkoz, #rabakozi, and #castle style embroideries. The texts developed for this 2010 exhibit are re-shared here as part of our ongoing #TextileTuesday learning series for the Knot Sew Fast: Patchwork of Tompkins County exhibit, on display February-August 2023.

    Original text was written by Eniko Farkas in collaboration with History Center staff. 


  • Sat, March 11, 2023 6:09 PM | Anonymous

    Sarkoz

    The Sarkoz area is located in the southwestern part of Hungary, and its folk art is known as the oldest and most distinct of all Hungarian styles. “Sarkoz” means “muddy thorough fare,” and serves as the name for several distinct villages. Until the end of the 19th century, this area was inundated by floods, which resulted in extensive swamps that isolated villages.  Today, all the swamps are drained, and the area is reconnected.

    There have been several styles of embroidery practiced in this region. The most popular and the most famous is the bonnet embroidery style. These bonnets are embroidered on a lightweight black background with white thread. Their main motif is the “Tree of Life” with flanking birds, which is an important Sarkoz wedding symbol. These bonnets are placed on the head of a young bride at midnight, on the eve of her wedding. A miniature “Tree of Life” is also placed in front of a young couple sitting at their wedding table. For the modern urban home, these designs have been enlarged and copied into a sofa pillow material. The base material of the pillowcase is homespun, and the color combination of the threads is limited; for instance, to blue and white, or purple and white, or apple green and black. Despite the limited number of colors, great varieties of stitches are used. Filling out the motifs with the right kind of stitches necessitates an easy reference - the sampler. Most professional Sarkoz embroiderers have their own sampler to remember the complicated rules.


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    In 2010 The History Center hosted the exhibit 'Hungarian Embroideries and Folk Art' from the collection of Hungarian-Ithaca Eniko Farkas. This exhibit included #matyo, #kalocsa, #sarkoz, #rabakozi, and #castle style embroideries. The texts developed for this 2010 exhibit are re-shared here as part of our ongoing #TextileTuesday learning series for the Knot Sew Fast: Patchwork of Tompkins County exhibit, on display February-August 2023.

    Original text was written by Eniko Farkas in collaboration with History Center staff. 

  • Thu, March 09, 2023 12:27 PM | Anonymous

    What stores used to occupy the block where Restaurant Row is now? Back in the 1880s, the building that now houses Asia Cuisine among others was known as the “Bates Block” https://tompkins.historyforge.net/buildings/26 at 118-124 N Aurora St, and Mrs. Kittie Taylor, a “sewing machine agent,” sold sewing machines on the third floor of this building.


    In August 1879, the Ithaca Daily Journal reported that sewing machines were now seen as a “necessity in every well-regulated household.” The writer also noted that “sewing machine agents” were enjoying “brisk new sales” of sewing machines. 

    In downtown Ithaca, sewing machines could be bought at stores such as that owned by James T. Newman, also in the Bates Block, which sold pianos, organs, and sheet music. Mattress stores sold sewing machines as well and they could even be repaired at Ithaca Gun Works!  

    Searching the 1880 census on The History Center’s HistoryForge project, we find that the “sewing machine agents” of Ithaca included men like John Northrup (on the Journal block), as well as 34-year-old Kittie Taylor. 


    This last record is surprising because salesmen had somewhat sordid reputations. She may have had more freedom to do so because she was widowed. In 1880, the Ithaca Daily Journal published ads for the “new” Davis vertical feed, shuttle sewing machine, listing Mrs. K Taylor as “sole agent for Ithaca.” In her ad, Kittie Taylor asked potential customers to “call at” Room 16, Third Floor, Bates Block, which enjoyed large display windows to publicize their wares. 

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    Research and writing by Kelly King-O'Brien in 2023 in collaboration with the Tompkins County HistoryForge Project

  • Wed, March 08, 2023 3:26 PM | Anonymous

    It is easy to think of history as static, and archival collections as immutable snapshots of time. However, recent years have been filled with life-changing, and generation altering events, reminding of us history's continuous ebb and flow. As the keepers of Tompkins County's past we have found ourselves called to actively request reflections and feedback from our community to help us preserve our history for future generations.

    In 2022 we began working with local environmental activists to document their long and arduous struggle to ban hydrofracking in New York State. We have so far received multiple donations of materials including banners, scientific reports, legislative records, photographs, signs, and much more. This is part of our ongoing effort to expand our holdings on local environmental issues.

    Many of our archival collections reflect the essential nature of history as a living, continuous process. For more information, or to request an opportunity to donate to our archival collections please email archives@thehistorycenter.net. Our archivist and Collections Committee reserve the right to accept or refuse donations according to the terms of our Collections Policy. 


    Learn more about our archives at thehistorycenter.net/archives

Physical Address

Located inside the Tompkins Center for History & Culture

110 North Tioga Street

(On the Ithaca Commons) 

Ithaca NY, 14850 USA

Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ Territory

Hours

Exhibit Hall Wednesday-Saturday 10am-6pm - CLOSED Sun-Tues

Cornell Local History Research Library & Archives - By appointment only. Please contact archives@thehistorycenter.net

Contact                                                     

Email: Refer to Contact page for individual emails, General inquiries to community@thehistorycenter.net

Phone: 607-273-8284

Web: thehistorycenter.net

Find us on social media @tompkinshistory

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