State History

This article originally appeared on the History Center in Tompkins County website.

The History Center in Tompkins County was awarded funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation for critical archival projects. This support is key for improving remote access to the museum’s valuable collections, and enables a vital resource to guide community researches through important collections documenting Tompkins County history. The funding comes at a critical time during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and will play an important part sustaining the local community archives in the coming year. The total award of $17,565.00 is designated primarily for staff expenses and archival materials/supplies.

The first point of contact for researchers interested in the archives at The History Center is through our available collection finding aids, which provide detailed scope and content descriptions. They are critical tools to guide researchers, and more fully connect the community to our materials. “We are incredibly grateful for the support of the Delmas Foundation on this project. Over the COVID times, when access to our collections has been more and more digital, the creation of finding aids has gained increased importance. We’re excited to broaden the public’s awareness and access to each of these collections through this first step,” says archivist Donna Eschenbrenner. The award from the Delmas Foundation supports the creation of this resource for a number of collections that currently lack these important guides. The lack of finding aides inhibits the broader community use of the collections. Once completed, the finding aids open up access through our website, ArchiveGrid, and our collection management system. Read more...