SCRLC Technology & Digitization Grant 

Digitization of Historic Ithaca's 1954 Ithaca Tax Photograph Index Cards Collection

South Central Regional Library Council awarded a $7,651 Technology & Digitization Grant to The History Center in Tompkins County in collaboration with Historic Ithaca to digitize the 1954 Ithaca Tax Photograph Index Cards collection held by Historic Ithaca. This collection includes approximately 5,600 images, depicting all taxable buildings in the City of Ithaca including residences, businesses, and industries. The resulting images are available online through Historic Ithaca’s collection on New York Heritage Digital Collections and on The History Center’s innovative open-source digital history platform HistoryForge (tompkins.historyforge.net).

AHA-NEH SHARP (Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan) Grants to Sustain & Advance the Work of Historical Organizations

Preserving Community Oral Histories

The AHA-NEH SHARP (Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan) grant to Sustain & Advance the Work of Historical Organizations' grant of $29,582 provided enormous support in processing the backlog of archival processing for the Oral Histories of Tompkins County. Over the course of the year we accomplished massive successes: finished transcriptions for 132 interviews (original narrative goal had been for 75), the completion of 11 Archival Finding Aids for specific projects (original grant narrative had been for 9), and the digital reformatting of 80 audio files in both archival and reference formats. The History Center was one of fifty institutions from across the USA awarded funds through this program.

This grant was administered by the American Historical Association with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities SHARP relief funds for institutions adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

PRESS RELEASE   Project Accomplishments

IMLS American Rescue Plan Grants 

These funds were used in tandem with the $20,000 SHARP Recovery Grant from Humanities New York to support specific collaborations with the Southside Community Center, Latino Civic Association, and Ithaca Asian American Association to make our collections more representative of the full histories of Tompkins County. These funds sponsored collaborative efforts to assess the representation of Black, Latinx/e/o/a, and Asian communities within our paper and photograph archives, and our three dimensional object and textile collections.

HNY SHARP Recovery Grant 

These funds were used in tandem with the $36,000 American Rescue Plan grant funds from the Institute of Museum & Library Services to support specific collaborations with the Southside Community Center, Latino Civic Association, and Ithaca Asian American Association to make our collections more representative of the full histories of Tompkins County. These funds sponsored collaborative efforts to assess the representation of Black, Latinx/e/o/a, and Asian communities within our paper and photograph archives, and our three dimensional object and textile collections. Additionally we will collaborate with each partner organization in creating public outreach strategies to address significant gaps in its historical record of Tompkins County. 

Press Release

Building Capacity, Creating Sustainability, Growing Accessibility

The History Center (THC) selected as one of 98 museum partners in New York State to participate the IMLS CARES Act grant project. THC is using this opportunity to expand access to our Oral Histories of Tompkins County collections, focusing on processing and including those interviews that represent marginalized and under-represented stories and voices from Tompkins County.

Press Release

Project Results:

- Oral History Collection Finding Aids, Stop and Listen to HERstory Oral History Experience

- Creation of new oral history collections: Black Voices in Tompkins County, Indigenous Voices in Tompkins County, Asian Diaspora in Tompkins County, Women's Voices, Religion & Belief in Tompkins County, Stories of Immigration, and Gender & Sexuality in Tompkins County.

NYSCA Recovery Fund Round Three

The NYSCA Recovery Funds will be used to support the research and exhibit curation of reCOUNT: Facing our Census. A museum wide exhibit which opened on April 1st 2022 exploring the narratives and histories captured by the census in Tompkins County across the decades.

MANY & NYSCA Partnership Grants Across NYS for Capacity Building

Capacity Building grants were awarded in amounts up to and including $5,000 to help museums respond to pandemic-related challenges, build financial stability, strengthen board and community engagement, update technology, support leadership, and change systems to address diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and justice.

The History Center used the awarded funds to purchase 5 new computers, replacing two staff computers, two computers for use in the Archives & Research Library, and one computer for our Exhibit Hall front desk. 

Finding Aid Project - History Center Archives 

Delmas Foundation awarded a total of $17,565 to The History Center in Tompkins County to support improving remote access to the museums valuable collections through the creation of Finding Aids.

Press Release

Project Results:

- See thehistorycenter.net/Finding-Aids

HistoryForge Project

The National Historical Public Records Commission, a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, announced the award of a Public Engagement with Historic Records Grant in support of HistoryForge. HistoryForge is a dynamic web environment that combines digitized census records with historic map and building records. This grant will augment the platform with user-generated content, and integration of other archival materials into the platform. 

Press Release

Project Examples: Completion of 1940 census transcription for City of Ithaca on tompkins.historyforge.net.