The Corner
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Rothschild Interior, ca. 1890s. Photo from the Collection of The History Center in Tompkins County.
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There are many ways to support The History Center, from volunteering, to attending and participating in programs and events, using the research library, donating archival information, and shopping! From November 25 to December 23 there will be a sale on books, photographs, images, postcards, the Ithaca Kitty and our three dolls (Bessie Coleman, Harriet Tubman and Amelia Earhart).
You can also support us financially at https://thehistorycenter.net/donate. We are
your local history education and research center. Your contributions allow us to provide our community with a place to learn, share information and perspectives and connect with others. As we move forward into a new year of programs and initiatives, you can continue to help us fulfill our mission to make local history relevant and meaningful.
Come and shop! Bring a friend! See the stunning array of local maps on display in the main exhibit space. Additional exhibits focus on the long presence of the Webb family in Town of Caroline, Our Municipalities, and The Many Names of Fall Creek. You will also see preliminary packing, which provides a unique opportunity to learn more about what we have in our collections.
Director of The History Center in Tompkins County
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Bookstore & Gift Shop Highlights
A Month of Holiday Shopping
Come and shop at The History Center in Tompkins County between Saturday, November 25 and Saturday, December 23. We will have over 40 titles of local history books, maps, postcards, and other items with discounts in the range of 15% to 60%!
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We are wishing you
a Happy and Joyful season of Thanksgiving!
The History Center will be closed on Thursday, November 23
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The Maps of Tompkins County
From November 14 through mid-2018
Maps are powerful and engaging forms of visual communication. They show us our world, and the myriad smaller places within it. Maps simplify, scale down, and organize what otherwise would be too large, too distant, or too complex to be seen.
Maps fulfill a multitude of functions, and are used for a variety of purposes. Political maps, railway maps, waterway maps, soil maps; from cross-sections of lake water depth to trolley routes; maps are irresistible and invaluable resources for learning about our environment in all its tremendous diversity.
This exhibit displays a sampling of The History Center's map collection from the 19th through the 21st centuries.
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Peter Webb & Phyllis Webb of Caroline, n.d. Photo from the Collection of The History Center. |
Our Community
The Webbs - A Tompkins County Family
Through March 2018
In honor of our county's bicentennial The History Center is celebrating one long-established family from Caroline, the Webbs and their descendants, who exemplify the strength, character, and dedication to family and community that highlight the best of Tompkins County. Peter and Phyllis Webb were both born into slavery sometime in the 1790s and brought to New York as children. Phyllis (she had no last name) was born in North Carolina. Peter Webb, who was born around 1792 in Virginia, was brought here by John James Speed, a slave merchant who settled in Caroline on Level Green Road. Through tremendous hard work and perseverance Peter bought his freedom in 1818; Phyllis would be freed when slavery was abolished in New York State in 1827.
This photograph exhibit tells the moving and enriching story of one family's triumph over extreme hardship and their prosperous and vibrant descendants.
The Many Names of Fall Creek
Late November through March 2018
Names tell a story. Known to the Cayugas as Nogaene, Fall Creek flows past Tompkins County places whose names acknowledge the many connections we have with the creek--from business success to technical triumph, and even personal tragedies.
The exhibition is co-sponsored by:
Tompkins County Bicentennial Commission
and
Names on the Land--Tompkins County
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Woodard School - District 7 - Last Day Picnic. Photo - Courtesy of the Town of Enfield Historian, Sue Thompson. |
Exploring Tompkins County: A Municipality Display Case
The Town of Enfield: Schools as a Center of Our Community
Exploring Tompkins County display is a collaboration between The History Center in Tompkins County and Tompkins County's municipal historians. This exhibit shows how Enfield schools have been continuously bringing the community together. We thank Sue Thompson, Town of Enfield Historian, for
providing her knowledge and time to create this unique exhibit.
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Photo from the Verne Morton Photo Collection at The History Center. |
Presentation
"Celebrating Rural
Heritage"
Saturday, November 18, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (at The History Center)
The presentation will wrap up the 2017 Celebrating Rural Heritage series. We will focus on the county's rural history and heritage assets to answer the questions: What are the county's rural heritage legacies? What buildings, customs, folklife, and events connect us to our rural history? Is there a distinct rural culture in Tompkins County?
This will be a combination of brief presentations, interspersed with rural images and conversation. Attend and provide input into the Celebrating Rural Heritage Weekend planned for the fall of 2018.
First Friday Gallery Night: Exhibit Opening
"The Many Names of Fall Creek"
Friday, December 1, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM (at The History Center)
Join Names on the Land--Tompkins County's 6:00 PM launch of the exhibit, "The Many Names of Fall Creek." The exhibit traces the path of Fall Creek from Groton City to Cayuga Lake, pausing at its small towns and tucked-away places to explore more than 200 years of Tompkins County history through photographs and maps. Each place name tells a story of the people who have shaped and been shaped by Fall Creek. Local historians will discuss place names in the hamlet of Forest Home and follow the romantic names on the earliest tourist trail along Ithaca Gorge.
"Climates of Change" Performances
December 1, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. (at Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts)
December 2, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. (at Enfield Valley Grange)
December 2, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. (at Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts)
December 3, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. (at Community School of Music and Arts)
December 4, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. (Cornell Campus Sustainability Summit)
Co-directed by Sarah K. Chalmers & Godfrey L. Simmons. The play is created from stories told by various communities throughout Tompkins County about global warming: the controversies, the science, the economic impacts, and the different ways this crisis affects diverse populations. Read more about the shows here: http://civicensemble.org/climates-of-change/
Names on the Land Program & Celebration
Saturday, December 2, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (at The History Center)
On Saturday, December 2
nd, the Names on the Land-Tompkins County celebrates its first year of collecting county place name histories with a program that begins at 2:00 p.m. at The History Center in Tompkins County. Municipal historians and local history enthusiasts from around the county will share how place names offer an approach to telling local history. Place names tell us about the people who have settled the area, the geography that influences where we live, work, and play, and the values we hold important. Learn how digital tools help us visualize these sometimes forgotten places and how they can reveal patterns of our history.
HistoryForge Data Entry Bee Party
Saturday, December 2, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (at The History Center)
Come volunteer at our next transcription bee! Light refreshments will be served with lots of fun and an educational opportunity that will make Ithaca history come alive. Be sure to bring your laptop.
Sign up to volunteer here.
Saturday, December 9, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (At The History Center)
Come to The History Center in Tompkins County to listen to Doug Robinson, London McDaniels, and Johnny Russo's beautiful music while browsing holiday offerings for sale. Bring friends to enjoy live music, seasonal refreshments, our great selection of local history items & books, and compelling discounts!
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Local History in Media
PEGASYS Screening THC Events (Channel 13)
"Vietnam War Perspectives" Panel Discussion
Friday, November 17, 9:00 PM
Sunday, November 19, 10:00 PM
Friday, November 24, 9:00 PM
Sunday, November 26, 10:00 PM
About the program...
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From the Collection
November is National Native American Heritage Month!
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Pendant, ca. 1200 BCE to 1500 CE. Photo from the Collection of The History Center.
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Local Native Peoples called themselves Haudenosaunee, but most mod
ernresidents
recognize the name Iroquois for the first settlers here. Scholars sometimes use a rough approximation to summarize local Native American history by dividing it into a series of periods, such as the Archaic Period for the time from circa 8800-2000 BCE, and some of the pieces we have in our collection date from this early time. Most of them reflect a purely utilitarian purpose: A bone awl, for example, was used to punch holes in leather for sewing; a net sinker could have been used as a stone weight attached to fishing nets or baskets. But some of them suggest leisure time and an appreciation of decoration for its own sake.
There is a steatite pendant from a later time period, possibly 1200 BCE to around 1500 CE, which was carefully drilled and shaped, with a hole in the top that was worked from both sides for symmetry. A leather thong could have been used to wear it around the neck. These artifacts highlight the art and craft of the accomplished and innovative people who lived here long before white settlers came.
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Women's Suffrage Silent Auction
Portrait of Matilda Joslyn Gage by Christine Nobles Heller
Donated by the artist Christine Nobles Heller, this framed print of Matilda Joslyn Gage could be yours! To enter your "bid," please visit this page. Bids (which start at $125) will be open on Saturday, December 16th.
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898)
Raised by an abolitionist family in a home on the Underground Railroad, Matilda Joslyn Gage became an abolitionist, a suffragist, and a writer. She became president of both the National Woman Suffrage Association, and the New York State Woman Suffrage Association and collaborated with fellow suffragists Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with whom she co-authored The History of Woman Suffrage.
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