Ambered Candy Dish Ambered glass is said to have been discovered by accident when a child dropped her mother's glass slipper into an open mineral spring. Days later upon retrieving the slipper, the child discovered that the slipper had turned an iridescent amber color. This accident led the way to t...

1962 Civil Defence Survival Supplies Carton. On May 24, 1952, the Ithaca Journal reported that Operation Ithaca, the first full-scale civil defense exercise in the city and county, was executed to prepare for the possibility of a nuclear attack. Sirens went off at 9:55 in the morning to signal the R...

Passenger Pigeon Net Now extinct, passenger pigeons used to migrate by the millions from one feeding ground to another. They flocked to wheat field and buckwheat fields. Sometimes a single tree held as many as one hundred pigeon nests. The passenger pigeon was larger than the dove, and of a bluish c...

The History Center - Photos of Yesteryear The Verne Morton Collection Verne Morton against a grapevine, from his collection c 1903 Verne Morton of Groton (1868-1945) began his photographic career in 1896, and spent the next 49 years painstakingly capturing rural life in upstate New York in more than...

Loading Contact Us Press Get Involved About Us Welcome! The History Center in Tompkins County helps you use the tools of history to understand your past, gain perspective on the present, and play an informed role in shaping your future. CURRENT EXHIBITIONS & FEATURES Curiosities: Rarities & ...