HistoryForge

Welcome to our newest HistoryForge in Cortland, NY, brought to you by the fine folks at the Cortland County Historical Society!

Have a knack for deciphering hard-to-read cursive? Then we need you!
Help us transcribe the 1910 census to add to our HistoryForge database! By combining historic maps and photos with census records of the people who lived in Cortland County, we can create a unique way to visualize the history of our community in the early 1900s

Don't miss this Saturday's information session!
Event details here: https://fb.me/e/6P7MxriPb

HistoryForge is FRONT PAGE NEWS!

📰 Exciting news! We’re thrilled to share the recent feature in the Ithaca Times highlighting @tompkinshistory and the groundbreaking program, HistoryForge! Huge thanks to the Ithaca Times for the fantastic coverage! 

HistoryForge isn’t just about looking up your own house – it’s a tool for scholars, genealogists, and anyone curious about the rich tapestry of our community’s past.

To celebrate, we’ve included a special How-To video to guide you through HistoryForge’s incredible features. Ready to dive in? Visit Tompkins.history.net, click on ‘The Forge’, and let the journey begin! 

#HistoryForge #IthacaHistory #CommunityResearch #visitithaca #censusresearch

Check out HistoryForge in the Ithaca Times! Local history starts with you, and you, and you! First Ithaca, then the world... !

April 17, 2024 Read April 17, 2024 by Ithaca Times on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

Gotcha! Just making sure your calendar is marked for the 2024 eclipse on MONDAY APRIL 8TH!

This Ithaca Journal article was published on November 21st 1919. The 1919 eclipse was a partial eclipse, and the first that had happened locally for over a decade.

Did you know that with our HistoryForge platform you can access the records of all residents living in the City of Ithaca in 1920? Records were taken only a few months after this fall eclipse. Explore at: https://tompkins.historyforge.net/census/1920

Learn more about “The Home” with Historic Ithaca below.

Check out Historic Ithaca and The History Center in Tompkins County for more!

212 Cascadilla Street is currently a multi-family frame building with a stone foundation. We do not have the exact year this building was built but what we can see thanks to the map layers in HistoryForge is that the building was not on the 1866 map of the City of Ithaca and by the 1872 A.G. Bardin Map of Ithaca a building is there. The 1882 Bird’s Eye view of Ithaca shows the house as it appeared at that time. It was originally built in the Italianate style and the Colonial Revival front porch was added sometime between the 1910 Sanborn Fire Atlas Map of Ithaca and the 1919 Sanborn..

In the early 1900s a number of Black families lived in this neighborhood. 212 Cascadilla has a long history of historically significant Black families living under its roof. Present day 212 Cascadilla features two historical markers. One sign commemorates Tuskegee Airman Verdelle Payne and the other Roots author Alex Haley. Haley was born in the home and lived there for 6 weeks as an infant but was never registered on the census as living there. It is not common for one home to have multiple markers.

Special thanks to the incredible support from South Central Regional Library Council.Their grant allowed the digitization of Historic Ithaca's tax photograph index cards to become a reality.

We feel seen💕

Sharing a little bit of on this ❤️Valentine's❤️ Day!

SEARCH THE COLLECTION
Search the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection - the nation's largest archive of historic architectural, engineering, and landscape documentation - in The Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/

DID YOU KNOW?
HABS/HAER/HALS is now on 📷 Instagram! Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/heritagedocumentationnps/

Our pilot site in Tompkins County, NY is starting a year long social media collaboration between The History Center in Tompkins County and their non-profit partner Historic Ithaca.

Each month the two organizations are choosing a particular block in the City of Ithaca and sharing stories discovered on HistoryForge about buildings, businesses, people, industry, and neighborhood demographics. Follow along on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag !

Explore on your own at tompkins.historyforge.net. User manuals to help solve your history questions available at historyforge.net/setup

Every Monday moving forward, we're taking a trip down memory lane with Tompkins HistoryForge. We’re teaming up with The History Center in Tompkins County to bring you new posts weekly that highlight the people and places that make our area unique. To kick us off we present 210 Center Street – our present Historic Ithaca offices and library, the former Red & White neighborhood grocery store.

You can join in on the fun! Explore Tompkins HistoryForge at tompkins.historyforge.net and check out the for a brief tutorial on YouTube and Reels on using this database effectively.

Special thanks to the incredible support from South Central Regional Library Council.Their grant allowed the digitization of Historic Ithaca's tax photograph index cards to become a reality. Grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities supported the expansion of the Tompkins HistoryForge project since 2022.