The Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS) was founded in 1974, "to be a genuine  alternative where students, staff and parents are directly involved in governance,...where students may study subjects of personal interest, and courses are available  which relate to contemporary issues in society....." The broader philosophy of the school reflects the administrative goal of letting students use freedom responsibly, and to make their own educational choices appropriate to their individual levels of development. One such student was Satya Rhodes-Conway, who was heavily involved with leadership roles at LACS when she was a student there in the 1980s and 1990s. She served on the school's Advisory Board and was involved in various administrative efforts, including  personnel decisions, and curriculum planning. She saved numerous records from her years there and her LACS papers were recently donated to our collections.  Satya Rhodes Conway is still a leader in her community; she is currently the Mayor of Madison, WI.

This interesting collection of materials on the history of LACS can be seen in our Research Library. Contact archives@thehistorycenter.net for an appointment.

History Community Remembers the many Contributions of Lansing Historian Louise Pier Bement

"Lansing Historian and teacher Louise Pier Bement died at the Ithaca Hospicare residence on June 30,  2022, attended by family and friends, after an extended illness. Louise was 89 and had lived in Lansing since 1969. ... Louise taught 4th grade in the Lansing elementary school for over 19 years. While teaching full-time and raising a family, Louise completed her master’s degree in Reading and Language Arts at Elmira College in 1972 and became certified to teach K-12 in New York State. “I never expected to teach in the elementary school and hadn’t the least idea how to do it, but a job was a job, so I sailed in and learned how as I taught.” During Louise’s teaching career, she and her students produced four books on the history of Lansing: The Portland Point Cement Company, The International Salt Company that was located on what is now Salt Point, Cayuga Lake, and The Cayuga Rock Salt Mine now operated by Cargill.  Louise was proud of the books written by her young students, which were packed with facts from primary sources.  She often referred to them when she gave talks about Lansing history. ... When Louise retired from teaching, she continued with her interest in local history. The Lansing archives consisted of many uncatalogued boxes of records that had been stored for many years in the historian’s barn before being transferred to an attic at the Lansing town hall. Louise said, “There might have been a historical society, but it had been inactive for a long time. When I needed to access the archives to work on the Portland Point book, I needed to climb a ladder into the attic of the town hall to access the material. The attic was either unbearably hot or cold depending upon the time of year.” Recognizing a need to preserve Lansing’s history, Louise asked the town to make her town historian. Later, as the archives grew, Louise convinced the town to build a proper archive building to house the collection and she helped create the Lansing Historical Society to catalog and curate it. The Lansing Historical Association was founded in 1988 when interested people got together to form a board. Louise liked having the town history organized. It is wonderful to have an archive building where the archives could easily be accessed by many people at once. Louise researched Lansing’s connections to the Underground Railroad and created a historical plaque identifying a house that she documented in a diary to have harbored runaway slaves. Rogues Harbor Inn received its historical landmark status due in large part to Louise’s research. The relocation and rehabilitation of the Field School, a forlorn one-room schoolhouse, was her crowning achievement. Leveraging every resource she could identify, Louise planned and orchestrated the relocation of the school house to a site at the Lansing town hall. The utility company raised overhead electrical wires so the building could pass under them. Louise’s optimism and belief in the project enchanted scores of volunteers, highway department workers, tradespeople, and her husband Bill, to donate their skills and time to move, rehabilitate, and furnish the Field School. Now a beloved Lansing historical treasure, the schoolhouse project would never have happened without Louise’s boundless faith and spirit."

Read Full Obituary at Ithaca Voice

Louise's books and other local history articles are preserved and available to the public in The History Center's Research Library & Archives.

After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, we are happy to report that we have  resumed our educational programming with Ithaca College students. Almost every year since 2005 we conducted highly successful research projects with Professor Michael Smith and his History of American Environmental Thought classes. Students were taught how to be practicing historians, with in-depth introductions to our archival collections and guidance on best practices for researching. Focusing on various topics of local environmental significance such as energy use, water concerns, public health, transportation, agricultural history, and industrial development, students did extensive research in our archival collections and then prepared a final project outlining their findings. We resumed that successful program this spring, and at the same time began work with a second Ithaca College class based on the same research model. This new group's focus was on local history, exploring the Ithaca community in a study of Regenerate History that is, the kind of history that the community might draw upon to help it move forward into the 21st century. These first year students examined our collections covering the past and present of this small city they recently made their home. Their emphasis was on understanding Ithaca as a place, either socially, politically, environmentally, or culturally. They studied noteworthy sites throughout Ithaca, including the Commons, the Southside Community Center, the Ithaca City Cemetery, and Stewart Park. 



We are delighted to be engaging with Ithaca College students again in this fun and fruitful research process, and are grateful that all of the students adapted themselves to our Covid precautions, carefully wearing their masks and working in small groups in our Research Library. As the semester progressed we were able to welcome more of them on research days, and their continued vigilance ensured a safe and enjoyable experience for us all. We are looking forward to continuing this research collaboration in the coming years. 

Send These to Me: Immigration and Ethnicity in Tompkins County by Elaine D. Engst and Carol Kammen is the newest work from the Tompkins County Historical Commission.

Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen and former Cornell University Archivist Elaine Engst's work 'Send These to Me' tells the story of immigrant communities who came and made their homes in Tompkins County. Send These to Me hopes to show where we have come from and, hopefully increase our understanding of where we are going as a society. This history looks at human habitation and immigration of Tompkins County following the Revolutionary War and the forced relocation of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ, Tutelo, and Saponinis by the 1779 Sullivan-Clinton Campaign.

Includes summaries of known immigration and settlement by the following groups: English, Dutch, German, Jewish, Italian, Syrian, Chinese, enslaved and free Black Americans, Finlanders/Finnish, Central Europeans, and Greeks.

We are delighted to announce another welcome addition to our New York Heritage Digital Collections page. This newest collection honors a grim but important topic: flooding.

Tompkins County has suffered several major floods throughout its history. Situated in New York’s Finger Lakes region, its many creeks and streams, as well as Cayuga Lake itself, pose considerable threats during and after heavy rainfalls. In 1857, 1901, 1935, 1956, 1972, and 1981, the area was devastated by floods that destroyed property and threatened (and took) lives and livelihoods. In 1935 the small village of Trumansburg alone suffered five deaths and more than $700,000 in damages, a horrific toll that required state and federal relief assistance and took months to recover from. These black and white images are from The History Center’s General Photo Collection, the largest and most diverse of our many photograph collections. Most are the work of unknown photographers, and they date from ca. 1901- ca. 1956. Most document the ravages of the 1935 flood, but some cover the floods of 1901 and 1956 as well.

You can view these fascinating images on the New York Heritage website:
nyheritage.org/collections/tompkins-county-flood-photographs

To see more about New York’s rich visual history and culture, browse the New York Heritage site: nyheritage.org

For questions about the Archival collections, or to discuss 1972 flood images, please email archives@thehistorycenter.net

Trinity Stewart

'It's a joy to be in spaces where serious discussions can be inclusive'
Trinity was an Oral History fellow through the Public History Initiative under the supervision of Julia Taylor, THC's former Youth Education Director.

Claire Deng
 'My project taught me why public history matters'
Claire worked in our Exhibit Hall, Research Library, and Archives under the supervision of THC staff Zoë Van Nostrand and Cindy Kjellander-Cantu.

Wesley Kang
'Your experience here is what you make of it'
Wesley worked in our Archives under the supervision of THC staff Donna Eschenbrenner and was instrumental in archiving the Covid-19 Pandemic Collection.

Our entire local history family was heartbroken by the death of Robert  Kibbee on May 31st 2022. He was an enthusiastic volunteer, a committed trustee, and a visionary leader for The History Center.

In a material way, his leadership on imagining and developing HistoryForge advanced our understanding of Tompkins County significantly. The project combined many of Bob's passions, including maps, census data, genealogy, and local history.

It was a true honor and privilege for our staff to work alongside Bob over countless hours to realize the HistoryForge project. The project is active here in Ithaca, Elmira, Auburn, and Oberlin (OH), and is preparing to expand to include all of Tompkins County and other communities. HistoryForge is innovative, promotes deep and critical thinking about our community, and inspires folks from all walks of life to engage in new ways with our shared past. All of these project characteristics are reflective of Bob's character. He was a friend, a mentor, and a valuable leader for us as individuals, and as an organization.

We are committed to continuing the HistoryForge project as a small way of honoring all of Bob's contributions to our community. His passing is a true loss, and we will miss his presence deeply.

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Bob's obituary and memorial services are being coordinated by his family and Ness-Sibley Funeral Home. We encourage everyone to share their memories of Bob on the Tribute Wall on his memorial page to be shared with his family.

Date: June 2nd 2022

Contact: Zoë Van Nostrand – Marketing & Visitor Experience Coordinator community@thehistorycenter.net-607-273-8284 ext. 229 (W-Sat 10-5pm)

www.thehistorycenter.net

THE HISTORY CENTER IS A 2022 BLUE STAR MUSEUM

ITHACA NY – The History Center in Tompkins County announced it will join museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative for the third year, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2022 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 21, 2022, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 2022. Find the list of participating museums at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and museums across America.

The History Center encourages Blue Star families to attend our upcoming summer programs:

• -          6/25 – CHAT Learning to Fly Tommy w/ Roger Segelken (Details at thehistorycenter.net/CHAT)
• o   This program highlights Tompkins County’s role in manufacturing training planes for WWI pilots
• -          6/26 – The Shortstop Classic – Vintage Base Ball @ Taughannock Park (Details at thehistorycenter.net/theclassic)
• -          July – Guided Tours – Prohibition Era Ithaca
• -          September – Guided Tours – History of the Commons
• -          9/22 – Women of WWII: ON the Front Lines & the Home Front with Barb Warner Deane

A select number of tickets for each of our guided tours (thehistorycenter.net/tours) in July, August, and September will be set aside for Blue Star families. Please reach out to request these discounted tickets!

“The History Center is honored to be included as a Blue Star Museum, and to raise awareness about Tompkins County’s heroes.”

“Museums educate and inspire, cause us to wonder and imagine, dream and remember,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “By participating in the Blue Star Museums program, The History Center in Tompkins County is offering military personnel and their families an opportunity to feel connected to the Tompkins County community and to explore the world through the power of arts, culture and design, contributing to each person being able to live an artful life.”

Blue Star Museums include children’s museums, art, science, and history museums, zoos, gardens, lighthouses, and more, and hail from all 50 states, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The current list of participating museumswill continue to develop over the summer as organizations are welcome to register to be a Blue Star Museumthroughout the summer.

"Our military community looks forward to the Blue Star Museum program each year and I am excited to celebrate the 2022 season along with them!” said Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families. “Thank you to The History Center in Tompkins County for participating in this impactful program and offering military families the opportunity to enjoy the arts with you this summer.”

The free admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States Military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force, members of the Reserves, National Guard, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), DD Form 1173-1 ID card or the Next Generation Uniformed Services (Real) ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum.

Follow #bluestarmuseums on Twitter @NEAarts and @BlueStarFamily.

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About The History Center in Tompkins County

The History Center in Tompkins County is a generation-to-generation education and research center focused on engaging the public with the history of Tompkins County (located in the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫ' Nation) and the Finger Lakes region. The History Center helps people use the tools of history to understand the past, gain perspective on the present, and play an informed role in shaping the future. The History Center is located within the Tompkins Center for History & Culture, a collaborative visitor center and event space on the Ithaca Commons. Learn more at thehistorycenter.net and follow @TompkinsHistory on any platform.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. To learn more, visit arts.gov or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families is the nation’s largest grass-roots military family support organization, with a mission to support military families to improve military readiness. Its distinctive approach builds stronger communities around military families through knowledge and programs that address the unique needs of those who serve. Blue Star Families’ nationally recognized surveys and analysis give military families an important voice that informs policymakers and its military family programs. It uses the power of its collective resources and cross-sector collaborations to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of members of military families to strengthen the troops, their families, and our nation as a whole. For more information, visit bluestarfam.org.

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Have you ever heard of “flour sack dresses”? By the 1920’s flour/sugar/feed sacks were printed in gingham checked or striped patterns.  These flour sacks were used to make household items, clothing, quilts and toys.  I am looking for family stories in the use of these sacks. I would also be interesting in viewing an actual sack, or clothing/quilt.  I am working on a history display but do not have local stories of the use of theses sacks.  (historian@townofenfield.org or 607-272-6412).

While entering 1940 Federal Census data in the History Forge project of Tompkins County for Enfield  (https://thehistorycenter.net/HistoryForge) I was noticing the different occupations recorded for residents of the Town.  Below are just a few of the people and occupations. If you have additional information on any of the residents I would love to hear from you.  If you want to do some of your own research, Family Search and Ancestry are two website you can find the 1940 Census.  On April 1, the 1950 Federal Census will be released and viewable on both these websites.

One of the first occupations I noticed was Pocketbook Manufacturing.  France Newhart, Sophia Wilkins, Arthur and Pauline Wright, Andrew Palmer, and Viola McCray were all listed as working at  Pocketbook Manufacturing.  The jobs were listed as leather cutter and sewing operator.  R. Appel opened the “pocketbook factory” in 1934 in Ithaca. The company produced handbags for customers throughout the United States and Canada for 25 years until its closure in 1959. At its peak production, R. Appel, Inc. manufactured nearly 1,800 handbags a day.  Helen Stanton worked as a seamstress at the City Hospital.  The City Hospital at that time was located on South Quarry Street in Ithaca and called the Ithaca Memorial Hospital.

There were teachers listed, Pearl Niverson (Krums Corners School); Florence Bullivant (Trumansburg School for 44 years); Mary Freese (VanDorn’s School); Warena Ramsey (Bostwick, VanDorn, Woodard, Millers Corner, Enfield Center and Enfield Elementary Schools, taught for 40 years); Martha Bock (Woodward School taught for 33 years). Paul Nelson worked at a Chicken Hatchery (we will place him at Babcock’s (1935 Krums Corners). Abram Moore, Junk Dealer.  Clair Entriken and Albert Stone, Bakery.  Blacksmith - Clarence Fitchpatrick, Enfield Center and Otto Newman, Cornell University.   Hall Bailey, Caretaker State Park – Robert H. Treman State Park? 

Lawrence and Arelen Fitchpatrick, Clifford and Doris Voorheis working at “adding machine” manufacture. Allen-Wales produced and sold adding machines, Ithaca. The Company became National Cash Register (NCR) in 1943.  Ernest Buteux, built Hillendale Golf Course (Applegate Road) in 1930’s. Lyman Cockerill, Minister Baptist Church. Merchant Retail Stores – Carl Newhart, Enfield Center Newhart’s Store;  Charles Phillips, Miller’s Corner (Mecklenburg, Enfield Main) Gas Station; William Jones, Enfield Center Red and White Store. Holland Cretsen, Foreman Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp, 1933 Robert H. Treman State Park, Enfield.  Kryle Burlew, Barber Enfield Center.  Nora Dodd, Practical Nurse, Dodd Nursing Home opened in 1951 and closed in 1971, Ithaca.

I ran across this article in the Ithaca Journal, September 2, 1924.  I found it interesting the variety of names attending the Rumsey Reunion, a good research project to see how all these people were connected: The third annual reunion of the descendants of the Jonathan Rumsey family was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Fittchpatrick at Enfield Center last Saturday with about 50 present from Odessa, Dryden, and Ithaca.  A bountiful dinner was served at noon and the day was spent with games and visiting.  Mrs. Fred Bock read a history of the family and officers elected for another year were: President, L.D. Rumsey; vice-president, Mrs. Sherman Ervay; secretary, Mrs. Ida Carpenter; treasurer, Sherman Ervay; historian, Mrs. Fred Bock; committee on entertainment, Mrs. Charles Jones, Mrs. John Myers and Mrs. Fred Bock.  The next reunion will be held at the home of Mrs. E.P. Perez at Shadow Lawn on Cayuga Lake.

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This article was originally published in the April-June 2022 print copy issue of the Enfield Currents. Reposted here with the authors permission. 

Sue Thompson, Enfield Historian, historian@townofenfield.org

The inaugural CHAT, or Community History Across Tompkins event took place the evening of April 7 at the Community Arts Partnership ArtSpace and Gallery at the History Center focused on local deaf and hard of hearing history.

ITHACA, NY – A wedding of Newfield residents was marked as a special occasion not just for the couple’s lives, but because the ceremony was performed entirely in sign language. Matilda Arnold Brown, after completing an education at the Central New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes in Rome, New York, married Calvin Brown who was also deaf. The uniquely communicated event was spread throughout newspapers, but there was another twist that made it even more unique —  this happened all the way back in 1896.

The wedding of Matilda and Calvin Brown was just one of many stories uncovered and compiled as part of a new compilation project by the History Center in Tompkins County. Former intern and volunteer Leanza Kopa, as part of their Masters studies program at Maryville University, explored various archives of local history in order to highlight deaf and hard of hearing history in Ithaca and Tompkins County. Working with the History Center’s marketing and experience coordinator Zoë Van Nostrand, she began to fill in the records on deaf and hard of hearing history.

“When Zoë first presented it to me, we had absolutely nothing on it, there was nothing in the archives, it was a complete blank page,” Kopa said. “All we had were a few names from the 1910 census, in which they were labeled as ‘deaf and dumb’. And so I kind of thought, ‘you know, I’ll find the golden story, I’m one of these people and discovering someone’s lost history, right?’.”

And while that idea did not come perfectly to fruition, Kopa says Ithaca Journal archives and other sources explored resulted in finding local stories on lip reading, sign language, hearing devices, and other topics relevant to the deaf and hard of hearing.  

VIDEO LINK

Highlighting National Deaf History Month, which takes place from March 13 – April 15 every year, the resulting compilation of deaf and hard of hearing history was highlighted on the History Center’s website and culminated in a new type of event for the History Center where an audience gathered to hear the culmination of the research. 

The inaugural CHAT, or Community History Across Tompkins, event took place the evening of April 7 at the Community Arts Partnership ArtSpace and Gallery at the History Center. The gathering of about a dozen history-curious community members began with a lecture by Kopa followed by a rearrangement into a discussion circle. 

In the lecture, Kopa explored the origins of deaf stigma and community, from Artistotle to the term “deaf and dumb” and highlighted instances of deaf and hard of hearing community camaraderie and solidarity in the past. One of these was the Ithaca League for the Hard of Hearing, a group that gathered frequently and was featured in newspapers throughout the 1930s educating on the latest hearing devices, practiced lip reading, ran social functions, and worked to improve quality of life for hearing-impaired community members before its leaving the historical record around 1939. Kopa said her favorite discovery was that Tompkins County was the first county in the United States to perform a hearing test for children throughout the county in 1934 so it could be found when students needed additional treatment or assistance, which remains important to this day. 

“As a hard of hearing individual myself, that was a really important thing; they didn’t discover it until I was older,” Kopa, who was about four years old at the time, said. “So having testing for children is very important for their communication, development, and their social skills, and if you catch it early on, we can adjust [for]those children and put them in classes that better suit their needs, or get them hearing aids,  hearing devices, or however the parents and child see fit.”

Following the lecture, attendees shared their thoughts on what they learned from the presentation, what they found most interesting, and how it connects to their experience or what they know about deafness in Tompkins County now. An ASL interpreter was present for those hard of hearing that wished to still take part.

“I didn’t know, really any of the history that Leanza shared, so this was good to learn,” said Tompkins County Legislator Veronica Pillar, who attended the event. “I’m looking forward to like, more, you know, more stories being added to the project and more sort of connection to what the deaf and hard of hearing community here right now or what could it be, especially hearing that, you know, other places have more of a community and more supports for people”.

The new CHAT events intend to allow citizen historians and local researchers of all ages present on regional history topics in an informal setting. Van Nostrand says that this and an upcoming event are hopefully the start to a great new series of programs.=

“The hope is that these are open to the public, and that anyone who really wants a space to talk through new content that they’re working on, or local history projects, has the opportunity to reach out,” said Van Nostrand. “With switching to the roundtable discussion and having people the opportunity to really engage in a more relaxed format, it’s my hope is that there’s less barriers for people who might not be who might be in school to become academics…but they’re not quite at that level yet, but still giving them an opportunity to share really valuable research and valuable work with the community.”

The research will be made into a formal archival collection in the history center’s archives and connects these past events to the present community

The online compilation also highlighted former reporting by Ithaca Week highlighting the American Sign Language Chat Ithaca (ASLCI) group, which continues to meet weekly on Tuesdays in Ithaca to practice their sign language skills since it was founded in 2015.

“For me, it was an absolute honor,” Kopa said about the experience. “For someone who is hard of hearing, I’ve noticed going into this, I really don’t know too much about, I guess you’d say my history[…]. It’s really a history that hasn’t been taught or told, and so by doing this, having an opportunity to give that history a voice again and bring it back to the forefront, that’s definitely something I’ve taken extremely seriously and have felt, you know, extreme honor and I hope that by doing this I can do the community right by it.”

Additionally, the History Center is undergoing an effort to make its content accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing by creating transcripts to oral history interviews and adding subtitles to their YouTube videos.

The History Center is looking to add to its materials on local deaf history, and those wishing to contribute materials, stories, or research to these collections are encouraged to email archives@thehistorycenter.net.

The next CHAT is set to take place May 5, and will focus on early Asian residents in Tompkins County corresponding with Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Community members and groups interested in presenting for future CHATs on local research can contact community@thehistorycenter.net.

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This article was originally published in IthacaWeek on April 19th 2022. Re-published here with the authors permission. 

Access original article here: https://www.ithacaweek-ic.com/the-history-centers-inaugural-chat-puts-deaf-history-into-focus/