Archive: Around Town

Technology changes through the years, but the basic things we do and care about today aren't much different from the things people did here a hundred years ago.  They worked, they played, their children went to school.  They worried about making a living, and about their crops.  Cayuga Lake flooded then as it does now, and there were fires and train derailments.  Sailboats, hunting, music, and just riding a bicycle were among the ways they played.

A group of 26 contributors led by Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen have captured this life in photographs in a new book, 'Tompkins County Images of Work and Play', published by The History Press.  Most of the contributors are municipal historians and their deputies from all the towns in the county, who collected and captioned the pictures from their municipal archives and solicited others from private collections.


The pictures range between about 1890 and 1960.  They show county residents at work and at play, in peril and at school.  Local historians provided chapter introductions and captions for the pictures they collected.  Lansing Town historian Louise Bement points to her favorite picture of a woman cleaning her kitchen in her Ridge Road house after her butter churn exploded.  Bement says she got background on the picture from written memories collected from Ephraim  Nedrow.

"He described how the barrel churn worked," she says.  "After a few turns you took the plug out to let the gas escape.  After a few more turns you took the plug out to let the gas escape.  He said, 'If you don't do that it explodes and goes all over, and I should know!'  I really enjoy that. "

The new book came about when The History Press asked Kammen to create a picture book about the county.  Bement contributed about 20 of the pictures and captions and wrote the introduction to the 'Leisure' chapter.  She says the process of creating the book, both at meetings and through e-mail was enjoyable.  Historians from around the county brought photocopies of pictures to a meeting and placed them on tables that had chapter titles marking them.  Kammen assigned people to collect the pictures for each category, then the group selected the ones that would be used.

After a second cut, the historians began work on the captions, which were revised and edited through e-mail.  Meanwhile the original photographs were scanned by Groton Town Historian Rosemarie Tucker.  The project was begun in March, and the book was published in September, a remarkable seven months from start to finish.

While municipalities are required by New York State to have historians, it is up to the individual towns and villages whether or not it is a paid position and what responsibilities local historians are given.  There are more than 1,300 appointed historians in the state.  Lansing has a paid historian position, and in 2005 erected a historical records building near the Town Hall where Bement has her office and archives photographs, diaries, letters, and myriad records that have been collected since Alice Bristol began recording Lansing history in 1929.

Bement says Tompkins County is unique in that it is the only county in New York where historians meet monthly.  From those monthly meetings have come a number of projects including a brochure of historical organizations and sites in the county in 2002, a book called 'Place Names of Tompkins County' in 2004, and in 2007 a series of brochures -- one for each town in the county -- featuring historical, geological, and special features of the towns.


"It's such a fun group.  They're all extremely intelligent, and we're all interested in seeing things.  We get together and really enjoy each other's company.  And we help each other so much.  If I get an e-mail I can say Joan Manning from Freeville will be able to handle this, or here's Rosemarie's e-mail -- write her and she'll be able to help you."

The book is on sale at the Tompkins County History Center, and Bement says that the more people ask for it at Borders and Barnes & Noble the sooner those stores will stock it.  It lists at $21.99.

"Place names was fun, and the brochure was difficult," Bement says.  "I must say this book was probably the most enjoyable project we've done."

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