Part of the expansion of the HistoryForge project to include all of Tompkins County and not just the City of Ithaca, included solving the issue of finding early maps documenting the rural townships of Tompkins. A starting solution came in the form of the Clock & Compass Map system developed by John Byron Plato in the 1920's (learn more at Mark Monmoniers Book Talk on 10/8).

We recently completed the digitization of these materials and addition to the New York Heritage Digital Collections database as part of our ongoing partnership with the South Central Regional Library Council. We are thrilled to have the digitized "Clock System Rural Index" papers and maps for Groton Township, Caroline Township, Danby & Newfield Towns, Ithaca & Enfield Towns, Ulysses Township, Dryden Township, and Lansing Township now available to the public. 

Learn more about this unique mapping system in Monmoniers new book 'Clock & Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address' available through The History Center's online bookstore for $20.

If you are interested in joining the HistoryForge team as a volunteer, please reach out to Eve Snyder at historyforge@thehistorycenter.net

LGBT+ History Month - October

Tompkins County and Ithaca has a longstanding history of being at the forefront of LGBTQ+ rights. A student led protest at Morrie's Bar in 1968 may have been the first gay student sit-in in the United States; and the Student Homophile League formed at Cornell University in 1969, was the second public gay student organization in the country. 

The first formal statement about bisexuality made by any religious or political group in the United States happened in Ithaca in 1972. The General Conference for Friends, brought 1,400 members and friends of Quakerism to Ithaca College for their annual convention. Over 130 people showed up to the bisexuality workshop, and the statement was drafted over the following days.

Learn more at: https://thehistorycenter.net/LGBTQ-History

LGBT+ History Month originated in the United States as Lesbian and Gay History Month, and was first celebrated in October 1994. It was founded by Missouri high-school history teacher Rodney Wilson. Wilson, the first openly gay public school teacher in Missouri, originated the idea, served as founder on the first coordinating committee, and chose October as the month of celebration.

In 2020 The History Center along with 98 other museum partners across New York State was selected for a unique grant program 'Building Capacity, Creating Sustainability, Growing Accessibility' coordinated by the Museum Association of New York with funds from the Institute of Museum & Library Services. 

The History Center used the technology and support systems provided to pursue a long-overdue review and updating of our archival systems for our oral history collections. As of 2020 our oral history files included over 150 recorded interviews, that number has since grown to 205. 

Under this grant we completed over 40 transcripts for interviews, developed Archival Finding Aids for 9 distinct oral history projects, created a physical Reference Catalog for the 200+ interview collection housed in the Research Library, and began an on-going archival oral history transcript collection. This thorough listing and review of our collections also inspired the creation of our identity themed sub-collections: Asian Diaspora, Black Voices, Gender & Sexuality, Indigenous Voices, Stories of Immigration, and Women's Voices as well as the Stop & Listen to HERstory Oral History Experience unveiled as part of the Breaking Barriers: Women's Lives & Livelihoods exhibit in 2021. 

Our immense thanks to the volunteers and student workers who contributed to this project: Raia Gutman, Olivia Chaudhury, Sophia Shi, Kethry Larsen, and Lily Mueller.

The work begun under this grant is now continued through the one-year 'Preserving Community Oral Histories' grant provided by the American Historical Association. These archives are available by appointment in our Research Library, contact archives@thehistorycenter.net.
 

Details on all our current grant projects can be found at thehistorycenter.net/grants.

Completing just over 350 miles between Ben Sandberg's ride of 250.28 and History Center trustee Michael Smith's ride of 100 miles, Traverse Tompkins raised a phenomenal $13,368 in support of local history this year!

This was our third year of Traverse Tompkins, and for a fundraiser that was first implemented during the early years of the pandemic, it's been wonderful to watch it grow. This year we raised nearly $2,500 more than in 2021, and also grew significantly in our number of individual donors. 

With an astonishing 19 plus hours spent cycling this year, Ben thinks that 250 miles might be his 24-hour limit, but we hope to bring more cyclists in next year to help us expand Traverse Tompkins local history exploration even more! We've already got ideas brewing for next year, please reach out to director@thehistorycenter.net if you'd like to join in (or even just send his your congratulations for a ride well done this year)!

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This article is from the October 2022 History Happenings Newsletter. 

Hispanic Heritage Month - September 15th - October 15th

There were students from Latin America at Cornell University from the very beginning: a Brazilian student was part of the first group of students in 1868; Recruited by Geology Professor Charles Hartt, who traveled in Brazil, more Brazilian students arrived. In 1873 the Brazilian students published Aurora Brasileira a monthly newsletter written in Portuguese, and they established a Club Brasileiro.

HistoryForge Ithaca shows steadily growing numbers of immigration from twenty Central and South American countries throughout the twentieth century. By searching the database using the "Race", "Mother Tongue", and "Place of Birth" filters on different census years you can learn about Latinx residents in the City of Ithaca. 

Hispanic Heritage Month first began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage week under President Lyndon Johnson. President Ronald Reagan expanded the celebration to a full month in 1988 spanning from September 15th (anniversary of independence for: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) to October 15th. According to the Library of Congress, “Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month* from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.”

Learn more Hispanic and Latinx local history at thehistorycenter.net/hispanic-heritage-month. Our thanks to our spring 2022 Exhibit Hall volunteer, Luis Valderrama, for their work translating our 'History at Home' learning and activity booklets into Spanish! 'All About Tommy' and 'The Ithaca Kitty' are now available for download and use in Spanish-speaking households and learning spaces in Tompkins County!

Connect with our archivist to contribute to our collections documenting Hispanic and Latinx history in Tompkins County - archives@thehistorycenter.net.

The Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts (TCFA), founded in 1982, teaches students "in a range of  artistic endeavors," according to their website. The organization is housed in a beautiful historic Greek Revival building that was originally constructed as the Baptist Church of Ulysses, built in 1849.

We have recently received the original building specifications of the church that describe the details of its construction. These specifications spell out the agreement between the Second Baptist Society of Ulysses and Daniel Elmore of Ulysses, contractor, regarding all aspects of the construction, including basic drawings of the frame of the building. It dates from an era before professional architects, when the master builder oversaw all aspects of the building craft, from conception to final product.

Held for many years in the Conservatory offices, the TCFA Board of Trustees has determined that this important architectural information will be more accessible to researchers in The History Center's archives, and we are delighted to add it to our Town of Ulysses Collection.

For more information please email archives@thehistorycenter.net

Summer Projects at The History Center...

As engagement with local history on digital platforms has grown, we - along with others across the museum and arts field - have struggled with the long hours and high technical costs that go into digitizing our physical archives. 

This summer thanks to the work of multiple high-school interns, student workers, and docents, community volunteers, and local historians we've continued on the long process of digitizing and improving accessibility to our local history collections as well as national archives on digital platforms. 

This summer six Exhibit Hall workers transcribed over 380 pages through the Smithsonian Transcription Center; mostly contributing to digitization of the Freedmen's Bureau Papers, and 'Celebrating 175' collections. Our YES (Youth Employment Services) Teen Worker added five of our photograph collections to the platform HistoryPin. These collections have already been viewed by hundreds of people around the world! Our HistoryForge volunteers have made significant progress adding records to the HistoryForge Ithaca project and thanks to some very exciting grant news (read below!) are moving forward full steam ahead with the recently released 1950 census for the City of Ithaca. HistoryForge also recently completed the digitization of our Tompkins County Clock Maps to New York Heritage Digital Collections!

One of our undergraduate summer interns transcribed a series of 20-50 year old pamphlets about historic buildings and businesses in Tompkins County. Our high school interns also continued the year-long process of adding verified subtitles to all videos and programs on our YouTube channel. Adding captions to our videos ensures that they are accessible and easier to engage with for more audiences. It's a slow process, but we've now transcribed over 90% of our videos! Our volunteers in the archives in collaboration with THC staff, completed over a dozen additional Archival Finding Aids for our boxed collections, continuing the project funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation last year.

In addition the two part-time transcribers hired through our 'Preserving Community Oral Histories' grant from the American Historical Association in July have already made progress on dozens of interview transcripts from our Oral Histories of Tompkins County Collection in their first 8 weeks.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SUMMER WORKERS! We still have volunteer, docent, and internship positions available for the fall term for all ages. 

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This article is from the September 2022 History Happenings newsletter. 

This event is FREE and open to the public.

If you have questions or need accommodations to participate, please contact Alex (ahm253@cornell.edu).

PLEDGE TO SUPPORT BEN'S 9/24 RIDE!

Traverse Tompkins started in the fall of 2020 as a unique fundraiser to support The History Center in Tompkins County. Executive Director Benjamin Sandberg biked all around the county, live streaming videos exploring historical points of interest in each municipality. His challenge was to ride as many miles as possible in a single 24-hour period.

This year we're expanding Traverse Tompkins and Facing historic Floods!

In addition to Ben's 24-hour ride on September 24th (Sponsored in part by SERVPRO of Tompkins & Tioga Counties), we're asking more cyclists, runners, and riders to join our fundraising efforts! Riders can join sections of the route with Ben, or make their own path with the Facing Floods free roam PocketSights tour. Details on registering to 'Ride with Us' are on the Pledgeit platform. 

As part of this community effort we are also seeking CITIZEN ARCHIVISTS to help expand our flood collections! From September 23rd - 26th, we're asking folks across Tompkins County to take  photographs of waterways and systems in Tompkins County. From your favorite lookout spot to the creek that travels through your neighborhood, we need the help of all citizen archivists in creating a photographic collection for future generations in Tompkins County! As our community faces more dramatic impacts of extreme weather, the landscape of our home will change, and change quickly. Contact archives@thehistorycenter.net if you'd like to participate as a classroom or community group!

Join our team during the last weekend in September to preserve this moment in ecological time!

Ben's 2022 ride is being sponsored by     of Tompkins & Tioga Counties.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release – 8/17/2022

The History Center in Tompkins County

Media Contact: Zoë Van Nostrand, Community Engagement Director

(Ph.) (607) 273-8284 ext.229. (E.) community@thehistorycenter.net

The History Center in Tompkins County receives major award through the Digital Humanities Advancement Grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities.

ITHACA, NY. – The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced a major award of $145,634.00 to The History Center in Tompkins County (thehistorycenter.net) for their digital application HistoryForge: Mapping Census Data to Visualize Local History. In addition to this critical piece of funding, The History Center’s project earned additional recognition in the application process, and was selected to receive funding through the NEH’s A More Perfect Union initiative.

The History Center in Tompkins County is excited to take the next development phase with the HistoryForge platform. This digital database synthesizes historical maps, census records, and other historical materials to create a dynamic platform for exploring local history. The digital application is free to use – anyone can explore it at www.historyforge.net. During the previous project phase, The History Center transcribed City of Ithaca census records for 1900 – 1940, and expanded to Auburn (NY), Elmira (NY), and Oberlin (OH). Eve Snyder, HistoryForge project director and historian at The History Center, says

“Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities ensures our ability to broaden our reach in Tompkins County and beyond. With it we will be able to expand our initial Ithaca project into all of Tompkins County, and install the project with more communities across the United States.”

HistoryForgeis one of 18 projects from across the country to be awarded a Digital Humanities Advancement Grant. In total, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced 226 projects receiving $31.5 million dollars across all grant programs. ““NEH is proud to support the many scholars, curators, storytellers, filmmakers, and teachers who are helping preserve, examine, and share the country’s rich and expansive history and culture,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “From books and documentaries to the preservation of cultural heritage materials, these 226 exceptional projects will foster the exchange of ideas and increase access to humanities knowledge, resources, and experiences.”

If you are interested in joining the HistoryForge team as a volunteer, please reach out to Eve Snyder at historyforge@thehistorycenter.net

About The History Center in Tompkins County:

The History Center in Tompkins County is the local history museum located on The Commons in downtown Ithaca, NY. The museum and Research Library steward 400,000+ objects and materials in their collections on behalf of the public. You can keep up to date on all things history in the Finger Lakes through their social media channels @TompkinsHistory and website, www.thehistorycenter.net.