While the end of summer means fewer out-of-town travelers exploring the museum and archives, it also means the start of an exciting autumn of educational programming for people of all ages.

For the young ones, we to continue From Seeds to Wisdom: Exploring Haudenosaunee Cycles. Sunday's program focused on the Creation Story, right after a joyous community celebration on Saturday at the Eight Square Schoolhouse. For the whole family, this Saturday brings performances by Eleanor Stearns as Amelia Earhart.

Tompkins Cortland Community College, the new focus of the atrium exhibit tower, held their first workshop Tuesday on the history of nursing and local education. They will be holding three more workshops in the coming months around their academic specialties. We're also excited to host the annual meeting of the American Association of University Women tonight, with Professor Sean Eversley Bradwell from Ithaca College as their guest speaker, appropriately held in the Ithaca College Gallery/CAP ArtSpace.

Students from TC3 via College Initiative  Upstate, real estate courses at Cornell University, nearby New Roots Charter School, and more have already explored the exhibit hall and research library. We look forward to hosting the History of Environmental Thought class from Ithaca College for the 15th year of their research project with our organization and anthropology students from Cornell University for a second year of oral history training. The Women's Oral History Project for 9th to 12th graders has extended the registration deadline to September 22.

Fourth graders from public schools around the county started visiting the Eight Square Schoolhouse this week. It is also available for workshops and field trips. The new Executive Director, Ben Sandberg, continues to learn about all the facets of his job, including a hands-on lesson in how messy history can get at Eight Square's "charmingly historical" outhouse during the schoolhouse's clean-up a few weeks ago.

The research library and docent volunteers continue to be surprised by discovering more aspects of the county's rich history. Being in this new location means a lot of learning for everyone; not only visitors and volunteers, but also trustees, interns, and staff. We now know where all the light switches are!

We have been open to the public at the Tompkins Center for just over four months. We welcome you to come through the doors as if it is your first day of school. 

Let us know: What do you want to learn about Tompkins County?

Upcomin g Events