The History Center in Tompkins County · Year-End Appeal
Keep our county’s history alive.
Tompkins County’s history belongs to everyone. Your year-end gift keeps it going.
What we hold in trust
Behind every record is someone who lived here.
A barn at the edge of the fields. A letter somebody kept for a hundred years. We hold tens of thousands of photographs, letters, maps, and objects from across Tompkins County, so none of it gets lost. Your gift keeps them safe, and open to everyone.
The History Center is very much alive
Click any photo to look closer.This past year, with your support
Local history, open to everyone.
Explored Tompkins County’s past in our exhibit hall, with free admission for all.
Local kids discovering the history of their own community up close.
Families and scholars finding the records that matter to them, at no cost.
Giving more than 2,000 hours of their time to keep local history alive.
Why your gift matters
What your gift keeps going
We steward the collections and tell the stories of Tompkins County, from a class on a field trip to a neighbor tracing their family. Keeping all of it going takes steady, local support.
This is a hard stretch for small museums, and we are no exception. Support from outside the county has gotten thinner, and in uncertain times some funders have pulled back from local history. More of what we do now depends on the people who live here.
Ways to give
Pick the one that fits you
Give online or monthly
By credit card in a minute, as a one-time gift or a monthly gift that supports local history all year long.
Planned & legacy
Age 70½+? Ask about QCD
Include The History Center in your estate plan to help ensure our history has a home for generations to come. We also accept Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) from IRAs.
To talk it through, reach Ben Sandberg at director@thehistorycenter.net.
In honor or memory
Give in honor or in memory of someone, and we’ll send a note to the person or family you name. Add their details when you give online.
By mail
Make a check payable to The History Center in Tompkins County and mail it to:
110 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
You can give right here, or mail back the enclosed pledge card. Either way, thank you for keeping local history going.
The History Center in Tompkins County is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID (FEIN): 15-6024061. Your gift is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Year-end tax documentation is provided to all donors; for mid-year documentation, email director@thehistorycenter.net.
With gratitude for gifts given in 2025 and 2026 to honor and remember members of our community.