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History Happenings | November 2015
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Rod Howe's Corner
From the Executive Director
After spending years immersed in community and economic vitality it is no surprise that I reflect on ways that The History Center in Tompkins County can be a force for both community and economic development. There is a Community Capitals framework that is a tool for analyzing how communities work. One of the capitals is social capital which r
eflects the connections among people and organizations, and that highlights the social glue needed to make things happen. Two components of social capital are bonding and bridging. Bonding social capital refers to those close ties that build community cohesion and typically consists of relationships among individuals and groups with similar backgrounds. Bridging social capital refers to the connections that create and maintain bridges among organizations and communities,
and which fosters diversity of ideas and brings together diverse people.
This typology fits well with THC's cultural vision as both curator and facilitator. Our community's story is one made up of varied perspectives. We envision The History Center at the cross-section of these perspectives, helping tell the story of our community through a diverse, inclusive lens. Please share your ideas for how THC can help promote social capital that builds strong ties between people, organizations and communities that may have strong social bonding but would benefit from more interaction with those outside their existing networks.
(Reference: Rural Communities Legacy and Change, Cornelia Butler Flora and Jan L. Flora, Westview Press, 2008)
As always, feel free to contact me with your thoughts by phone (607.273.8284 x222) or email ([email protected]).
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In Memoriam:
Cemeteries of Tompkins County
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
October 2nd, 2015 - February 20th, 2015
If you haven't yet, make sure to stop by to explore the exhibition "
In Memoriam
: Cemeteries of Tompkins County
" with a pamphlet guide, and don't forget to check out the Exhibition Resource Table where you'll find a fiction and non-fiction cemetery book list compiled by the Tompkins County Public Library; four scavenger hunts: an Adult and Youth Cemetery Scavenger Hunt, and an Adult and Youth Exhibition Scavenger Hunt; information on upcoming cemetery tours; frequently asked questions with answers from the Department of State, Division of Cemeteries; a driving tour of Enfield cemeteries.
The places where we honor our dead tell as much about a community as do the homes of the living. In pioneer times, travelers were often buried trail side, perhaps with a stone or stick to mark the grave. In Tompkins County the earliest cemeteries were usually family burial plots. Many of these isolated sites are still extant, sometimes found by unsuspecting farmers as fields are plowed and earth turned. More often they are overgrown and hard to find. Gradually, religious organizations became responsible for interring the dead, and in the late 19
th
and early 20
th
century private associations and municipalities also took on this role.
There are hundreds of cemeteries in Tompkins County, and The History Center will be featuring several of them in a new exhibit
In Memoriam: Cemeteries of Tompkins County.
We will examine the historical, genealogical, and architectural heritage of these places where we remember our past, our loved ones, and the people who came before us.
For more information, contact Donna Eschenbrenner at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x224
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Cemetery Tours in Tompkins County
Saturday, November 7th, 2015
10:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 1:00 PM
NEWFIELD VILLAGE CEMETERY & WOODLAWN CEMETERY
Bank Street (Newfield Village) and Main Street (Woodlawn)
Both in Newfield Village
The emphasis of these tours will be an overview of cemeteries in general and specifically these cemeteries. Particular styles of stones and some of the interesting folks buried in these cemeteries will be discussed. Anyone interested in old cemeteries is invited to attend as we're sure that they will find these tours very interesting. Tour guides will be accepting donations for the Newfield Historical Society and its Archives.
Tours at both Newfield Village Cemetery and Woodlawn Cemetery will be happening simultaneously at all times listed.
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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November is...
A Month to Celebrate!!!
November is New York State History Month. MANY (Museum Association of New York) is joining with the New York State Museum, the NYS Path Through History, and I LOVE NY to celebrate New York State History Month this November. Keep an eye out as we celebrate and share local New York history as well.
But let's not forget....
November is also Native American Heritage Month! We aim to share local Haudenosaunee history and facts via social media posts, like Local History Tidbits, so make sure to Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter.
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P.L.A.C.E.
A Lunch Time Series with Rod Howe
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015
12:00 PM
The series will be the first Tuesday of each month at noon starting in November and ending in March and will be held at The
History Center. Created and led by The History Center's Executive Director, Rod Howe, the format will build off from P.L.A.C.E. as an acronym: People, Land, Architecture, Culture and Enterprise. Each session will focus on one of these themes and how they have contributed to instilling a strong commitment to this place. The sessions will be interactive as participants share their perspectives on these themes and place. Select local
historical information will be shared to seed discussion.
The first session will start with "people." Guest Robin Blakely-Armitage, Senior Extension Associate with the Community and Regional Development Institute, will contribute to the dialogue from her perspective as a demographer.
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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Poetry and Place:
Honoring Past and Present
Local Poet Laureates Through Their Readings
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Thursday, November 5th, 2015
7:00 PM
Join us at The History Center on Thursday, November 5th at 7:00 PM for the event "Poetry and Place". Poet Laureates will reunite to read and celebrate their public time serving as laureates for Tompkins County. Reading from their works works will be Tish Pearlman, Gail Holst-Warhaft, Jay Leeming, Michelle Courtney-Berry, and Jack Hopper. Discussion will follow, with refreshments served. Parking is available behind the History Center.
Tish Pearlman
is host of the public radio interview show "Out of Bounds." She is author of two poetry collections, a chapbook, The Fix Is In (Finishing Line Press), which re-told her harrowing 2009 near-death heart surgery experience and her most recent, Afterlife (Foothills Publishers).
Her work has appeared in The Healing Muse, Conversations Across Borders, andEarth's Daughters. Two poems forthcoming in The Iconoclast, winter 2015
She was 2013-2014 Poet Laureate of Tompkins County, NY
Gail Holst-Warhaft is an a poet, translator, musician and literary scholar. Her books include
Penelope's Confession
(poems), The Collected Poems of Nikos Kavadias (translations), I Had Three Lives: Selected Poems of Mikis Theodorakis (translations); The Cue for Passion: Grief and its Political Uses; Dangerous Voices: Women's Laments and Greek Literature; Theodorakis: Myth and Politics in Modern Greek Music; Road to Rembetika. She has published translations from ancient and modern Greek, French, and Anglo Saxon in journals and anthologies. A collection of her prose and poetry is forthcoming with Fomite Press.
Jay Leeming is the author of the poetry books
Dynamite on a China Plat
e
(Backwaters Press, 2006) and Miracle Atlas (Writers and Books, 2011).
His poems have appeared in a variety of magazines including Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, Rattapallax and Pleiades,
and he has been a featured reader at Butler University, Robert Bly's Great Mother Conference and the Woodstock Poetry Festival. He
has taught poetry workshops throughout the United States and abroad,
and is the recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He spends his summers working as a ranger-naturalist in Yosemite National Park, and otherwise makes his home in Ithaca, New York.
Michelle Courtney Berry is an author, actor, playwright, poet, coach and entrepreneur. She was the second poet laureate of Tompkins County. Michelle also won a CAP Award in Fiction, a Cave Canem Fellowship, a summer scholarship in poetry from the Fine Arts Work Center in P-town, a fellowship at the Hurston-Wright Conference in Moraga, CA and she's attended Breadloaf. As the first poet published by Horticulture, her poems have also appeared in Oxford Magazine, Paterson Literary Review, Random House, Random House, nocturnes: a (re)view of the literary arts, IthacaLit, Fresh Dirt, Obsidian, and elsewhere. Her poems have been commissioned by the Johnson Museum of Art, Roberson Museum and Science Center and the Johnson School at Cornell.
Jack Hopper has been writing and editing most of his life. He has three published collections-Miscellany (1962), The Ympes of Wanton Youthe: Poems 1963-93, and Doubles: Poems 1995-2012. He was chief editor at the NY academic publishing house AMS Press for 40 years, where he also founded and coedited Works: A Quarterly of Writing. Most recently his work has appeared in Chronogram: Arts, Culture, Spirit; Literary Gazette; and The Healing Muse. In Ithaca since 2005, he belongs to two poetry groups-the Aladdin Poets and The Ekphrastic Four. He is the current Poet Laureate of Tompkins County.
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Open Gallery Night
First Friday Gallery Night
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Friday, November 6th, 2015
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Come view "
In Memoriam:
Cemeteries of Tompkins County", enjoy light refreshments, pick up your copies of Adult a
nd Youth Cemetery and Exhibition Scavenger Hunts, and explore the other resources we have on our Exhibition Resource Table - all from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Friday, November 6th, 2015.
For more information contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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A Historical Perspective of
Veteran's Memorials of Tompkins County
A Presentation by Raymond Weaver
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Saturday, November 7th, 2015
2:00 PM
Join us on Saturday, November 7th, 2015 at 2:00 PM for the presentation "A Historical Perspective of Veteran's Memorials of Tompkins County" given by Raymond Weaver.
Weaver holds a degree from Tompkins Cortland Community College in Fire Science. He has spent 35 years with the Ithaca Fire Department as a Fire Fighter, Lieutenant, and Assistant Fire Chief/Fire Marshal. Weaver is Camp Commander and State Commander of the Son's of Union Veteran's of the Civil War. Holder of the artifacts of the Ithaca Fire Department, Weaver acts as secretary/curator of the artifacts of the Ithaca Veteran Volunteer Firemen's Museum. He is also director of Schools at the Trinity Lutheran Church of Ithaca, a member of the Tompkins County Sesquicentennial Commission (2010-2015), and a member of the Tompkins County Bicentennial Commission (2015-Current).
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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History Awards
The History Center's Inaugural Award Ceremony
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Tuesday, November 10th, 2015
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Join us on Tuesday, November 10th, 2015 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM for The History Center's inaugural History Awards ceremony. The History Center's trustees and employees view these awards as a way to honor those people who are making history, engaging with local history, interpreting local history, and/or whose work resonates with our mission statement:
The History Center in Tompkins County 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 following will be recognized:
Barbara Hall, science teacher, radio personality and world traveler, with a posthumous award for her commitment to Tompkins County. Tompkins County was her foundation for a global focus that played out in formal and informal roles as a community ambassador who promoted understanding among various peoples of the world.
Michael Smith, Associate Professor in the Department of History, Ithaca College, an educator committed to his students and connecting them with local history through archival research.
The Dryden Town Historical Society for their team work and dedication to creating the Southworth Homestead as an important historic site that invites the public to engage with history and themes that transcend the town. The Southworth Homestead has become an important destination and an asset to Tompkins County's heritage that enthralls both county residents and tourists.
Melody Smith for her three years of service to The History Center that covered all aspects of our work and programming. She was especially committed to the Eight Square Schoolhouse and clearly saw the value of that historic structure to engage youth and families.
Mayor Svante Myrick as a history maker and for his commitment to the City of Ithaca that includes a respect for history, a genuine concern for all its citizens, a recognition that the city is connected in multiple ways to the broader region, New York State, the nation and indeed the world.
The sponsor for this public awards ceremony is Dryden Mutual Insurance Company. The ceremony will be festive and celebratory, and a new video highlighting the work of The History Center will be premiered.
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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Boats and Boating on Cayuga Lake
A Talk in Conjunction with the Lansing Pathways Group Meeting
Lansing Community Library
27 Auburn Rd., Lansing, NY 14882
Tuesday, November 10th, 2015
7:00 PM
On Tuesday, November 10th, 2015 at 7:00 PM, Lansing Town Historian, Louise Bement, will give a presentation about Boats and Boating on Cayuga Lake for the Lansing Pathways group meeting. The presentation will take place at the Lansing Community Library on Auburn Road.
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Exploring and Doing Local History
Tompkins County Public Library and History Center
to Host Local History Lunch Series
Second Session:
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Thursday, November 12th, 2015
12:00 PM
Tompkins County Public Library and The History Center in Tompkins County will partner for "Exploring and Doing Local History," a hands-on monthly history program facilitated by Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen and Rod Howe, executive director of The History Center in Tompkins County.
These free 75-minute drop-in sessions will be held at noon on the second Thursday of each month from October 8th through April 14th, with program locations alternating monthly between the Library's large study room and The History Center's map room. The second session will take place at The History Center in Tompkins County.
Howe will introduce exploratory themes and topics, and Kammen will assist participants in conducting their own local history, by documenting past events, people or groups, and provide information on how to conduct research. She will introduce local documents for group discussion. The format will include time for open discussion.
Kammen is an award-winning historian, a published author and editorial writer for "History News," the journal of the American Association for State and Local History. She has taught at Ithaca High School, Tompkins Cortland Community College and is retired from teaching at Cornell University. She lectures widely around the country to historical organizations and consults for a number of historical societies.
Howe has strong generational ties to Tompkins County. Prior to his work with The History Center, Howe worked at Cornell University in an extension and outreach role focused on community and economic development. He has a diverse educational background that includes architecture, sociology, planning, theology and history.
No registration is required, and participants are encouraged to bring their own lunch. Beverages will be provided.
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Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen, image courtesy of Ithaca.com
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For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 ext. 248 or
[email protected]
or Kayla Sewell at 607-273-8284, ext. 227 or
community@thehistorycenter.net
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Suffrage Reconstructed
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Racist?
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Saturday, November 14th, 2015
2:00 PM
Join us on Saturday, November 14th, 2015 at 2:00 PM for a book talk with author Laura E. Free, Department of History Chair and Associate Professor of Women's Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Free will briefly discuss her book
Suffrage Reconstructed: Gender, Race, and Voting Rights in the Civil War Era
.
"The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified on July 9, 1868, identified all legitimate voters as "male." In so doing, it added gender-specific language to the U.S. Constitution for the first time. S
uffrage Reconstructed
is the first book to consider how and why the amendment's authors made this decision. Vividly detailing congressional floor bickering and activist campaigning, Laura E. Free takes readers into the pre- and postwar fights over precisely who should have the right to vote. Free demonstrates that all men, black and white, were the ultimate victors of these fights, as gender became the single most important marker of voting rights during Reconstruction." - Cornell University Press
Free will focus her talk more specifically on Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
was no stranger to controversy. She was one of the first women to ask for property rights for married
women. She had the temerity to suggest
in 1848 that women should have the right to vote. She thought they should have the right to divorce abusive husbands, and to be paid
equal
wages for their work. But after the Civil War, Stanton alienated even her closest allies by
rejecting the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution because it prevented states from restri
cting the ballot by race, but tacitly permitted them to do so by sex. In her statements at this point, Stanton says some truly ugly racist things to reject any change to the Constitution that excluded women. What do we, as contemporary Americans seeking racial justice, make of a feminist pioneer and
women's hero whose views are so troubling? In the week of her 200th birthday,
Laura
Free
will consider the question of Stanton's racism and try to understand within the context of the post-Civil War politics the suffrage advocate was seeking to navigate.
Laura
Free
, a 20-year Ithaca resident, teaches American History and Women's Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2009. Her book dealing in part with Stanton's Racism, "Suffrage Reconstructed: Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the Civil War Era" was just released by Cornell University Press.
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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A History of US-Cuba Relations
with Professor Marcía Cristina García
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Thursday, November 19th, 2015
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Join us on Thursday, November 19th, 2015 at 7:00 PM for a free event presented by
The History Center in Tompkins County and the Chamber of Commerce, given by María Cristina García, Ph.D., Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies in the Department of History, and Professor, Latino Studies Program at Cornell University.
Learn more about the history of US-Cuba relations, the embargo, and recent relaxation of relations between these two closely-related countries.
Free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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Tompkins County Heritage Tourism:
What, Why, When, Where and Who?
The History Center in Tompkins County
401 E. State St., Suite 100, Ithaca, NY
Saturday, November 21st, 2015
2:00 PM
Could your local community use help in preserving and interpreting its history for visitors and residents?
For the first time, a county-wide effort is being developed to support these goals!
Heritage Tourism is defined as "traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people
of the past and present". The County's Strategic Tourism Planning Board (STPB) has completed a draft heritage tourism implementation plan and will present recommendations for developing local heritage tourism over the next two years. The goals of the Plan are to 1) use heritage tourism to increase overall visitation, length of stays and visitor spending in
Tompkins County; 2) deepen appreciation and awareness of Ithaca and Tompkins County's history, so that visitors
and residents alike take away a richer understanding of and connection to this place; 3) improve access for visitors to the area's rich heritage stories, notable people, historic themes and sites, natural history and public art; and 4) increase coordination and collaboration between heritage institutions and tourism.
12 actions fitting within four overarching strategies - institutional development, interpretation, capacity building, and marketing - are proposed by the Plan.
Attendees will be invited to offer comments on the draft plan prior to final adoption later this year.
Join us for a discussion with Tom
Knipe,
Senior Planner and Tourism Coordinator for Tompkins County and Anne Gossen, a member of the Strategic Tourism Planning Board and chair of the Tompkins County Heritage Tourism Task Force.
For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at [email protected] or call 607.273.8284 x 227
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Happy Thanksgiving!
The History Center in Tompkins County will be
CLOSED
Thursday, November 26th
and
Saturday, November 28th, 2015
to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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