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Southside Collection from the History Center in Tompkins County

The Southside Community Center, still active today, was founded in 1934 to "affirm, empower and foster the development of self-pride among the African-American citizens of greater Ithaca." The History Center in Tompkins County has digitized dozens of images from the Southside Community Center from the first fifteen years of its history. As an Auburnian, I was particularly pleased to recognize Jerome "Brud" Holland's picture, seen above, from the 1937 Penn Cornell game. Brud Holland was the first African-American to play football at Cornell (and he was chosen All American!), the first African-American to sit on the board of the New York Stock Exchange, president of Delaware State College, and US Ambassador to Sweden.

David Marcham Photograph Collection from the History Center in Tompkins County

David Marcham grew up in Ithaca riding the Lehigh Valley Railroad. As a youth and while studying at Cornell, he took photographs all over the south central region from the passenger service railroad. This collection provides an intimate record of small-town railroading that soon disappeared.

More images will be added in 2022, but you can catch a presentation about the collection with the volunteer project coordinator and metadata author, Mark Charles, on September 10 at 7:30.

There is now a lovely new version of www.nyheritage.org. There were very few changes to the content, but the underlying content management system (Drupal) had to be updated. Please feel free to fill out the feedback form, found at the top of the homepage, and as always, let me know if you see any problems.

Could your museum or library "enhance understanding of and access to the COVID-19 vaccine"? The first round of applications closes on September 2nd, but a second round will be available later in the fall.

Do you know a volunteer-driven historical society that could use some professional guidance in some of the basics? Maybe you could use help writing a basic strategic plan? If DHPSNY's Archival Needs Assessment, Preservation Survey, or Strategic Planning Assistance are still too advanced for your organization right now, apply for the Foundational Planning Assistance here.

Apply for a matching grant of $5,000 to $250,000 from IMLS. The grant can pay for exhibits, programs, digital learning projects, collections management, and more. Apply by November 15.

This is an offshoot of the Museums for America grant opportunity, and has no matching requirement.

Could your museum be strengthened if only you could attend that expensive conference or full day workshop? This matching grant opportunity will cover all sorts of professional development.

Do you have a project idea that could champion lifelong learning, strengthen community engagement, or advance collections stewardship & access? That's what IMLS is looking to fund with these large matching grants. Apply by November 15.

This is designed for small and mid-sized museums to better care for their collections. Assessors will visit your institution and study your collections, building, and policies. They'll spend two days interviewing your staff before preparing a comprehensive report with recommendations for collections care. Use this report to inform your strategic plan and fundraising efforts. Apply by September 15.

The Greater Oneonta Historical Society is looking for film of Oneonta from the 1950s and 1960s. HBO is working on a documentary about Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman), who spent much of his childhood in Oneonta. Contact the filmmaker, Brian Becker, if you have something!

Rachel Dworkin's posts on the Chemung County Historical Society's blog never fail to impress! Her post in mid-August about the Conscientious Objector camp in Big Flats was fascinating.

CCHS's Curator Erin Doane also had a great post in August, and one that you can imitate in your area: Interesting Historical Points in 1922. Can you find a century old list of cool things in your town, maybe in the local paper? Follow up on the list, take contemporary pictures, and share! It's sure to be a hit.

I've mentioned Cortland County Historical Society's success with social media before, but it bears repeating. I post to NYHeritage's Facebook presence and I'm pleased when I get all of 10 likes on a post. Tabitha Scoville at CCHS routinely sees 150+ likes and a dozen shares of her posts. Some of her tricks include speaking in the first person, occasionally posting long-form articles of her current research, and always interacting with the commenters in a very friendly and gracious way. Take a look!

I love a good pun, especially when fancy cocktails are involved. On September 11, Hyde Hall is offering a guided tour "pairing historic lighting devices with samples of historic cocktails."

If you're more of a beer drinker than a cocktail enthusiast, check out Yates County Historical Society's fundraiser. For every pint of beer sold on Saturdays and Sundays in September, the owners of LyonSmith Brewery will donate $1 to YCHC.

Yates County History Center is starting up its COVID-delayed roaming digitization project, and we're so excited! They're starting in the village of Dresden this month, where they hope residents will bring in local history photographs and documents that can be added to NYHeritage. Good luck to them!

Thanks to a Pi State Educational Foundation Project Grant through the Beta Delta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international Society of Key Women Educators, Seneca Falls Historical Society is able to offer awesome kits for kids. This month's topic is the Colonial Era, so kids can learn about the 13 colonies, try their hand at making Johnny cakes, and practice colonial tongue twisters.

I just stumbled upon a charming post from Ann Cady, digitization assistant at the Corning Museum of Glass, as she discusses her work digitizing 70,000 slides from the Pilchuck Glass School. Read it if you have a moment and consider sharing something similar with your audience, who always appreciate learning how the "sausage is made" in the archives.

Non-Fungible Tokens are unique digital objects that prove ownership of something like a piece of digital artwork. It was big news this year as the NFT for a classic meme, "Disaster Girl," sold for half a million dollars. A very small number of cultural institutions are playing with the idea of selling NFTs of digitized items in their collection, like the Hermitage Museum in Russia. What do you think? If you're interested in the topic, let me know or reach out directly to Ben Sandberg, our local expert on this pioneering idea.

Speaking of Ben Sandberg of the History Center in Tompkins County- he's going to ride his bike for as many miles as possible in 24 hours with the pledged support of donors. This COVID-safe alternative to THC's typically big, in-person annual fundraisers relies on PocketSights guided tours and PledgeIt.

Do you actively collect, and if so, are you seeking out born-digital objects or social media content to add to your collection? If so, please tell me, because I want to talk to you!

Since it's hurricane season, I thought I'd share one of many good resources on Disaster Preparedness. This is from the New York State Archives, who also have a low-volume listserv called the Regional Newsflash with pertinent disaster warnings and response tips. I signed up by emailing Michael Martin at [email protected].

The University of Oregon will be hosting an online conference in November all about user experience and accessibility, digital projects, and user research in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM). Submit a proposal here by September 10.

Interested in exploring the carbon footprint of your work and of your vendors? STiCH can help you make the sustainable choices in conservation. Most of the site is still "coming soon," so bookmark it for 2022!

Wednesday, September 8 at 4 pm

Thursday, September 9 at 11 am

Saturday, September 11 at 10:30 am

Thursday, September 16 at 12:30 pm

Tuesday, September 21 at 2 pm

Wednesday, September 22 at 9 am

Wednesday, September 22 at 2 pm

Tuesday, September 28 at 2 pm

Friday, October 1 from 9:30 am to 4 pm

Thursday, September 2 at 7 pm in Elmira

Monday, September 13 to Wednesday, September 15

Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) in Gettysburg, PA

Thursday, October 7 - Saturday, October 9

NYLA Conference in Syracuse

Wednesday, November 3 - Saturday, November 6

The Society of American Archivists is looking for a new Reviews Editor, a three year term for SAA members. Read more and apply here.

That's all for this month! Send me an email if there's anything at your organization you'd like me to include in the next newsletter: [email protected] | Claire Lovell, Digital Services Librarian