From Our Interns:

As summer comes to an end and the start of the fall semester draws near, it is time for the two of us to say our goodbyes to the Chemung County Historical Society. We have spent the last few months interning here and as our last days approach we wanted to share with everyone what our experiences were like. Before we get into that, let us both introduce ourselves.

Hello! I am Phoenix Andrews. I am 21 years old and a senior history major at Alfred University. I transferred to Alfred University in the fall of 2021 after getting my Associates degree at Corning Community College. I plan to graduate in the spring of 2023 and am hoping to start Grad School the following semester.

Hi there! My name is Kevin Earley. I am 23, almost 24 years old, and going into my senior year as a history major at Alfred University! I transferred over from Alfred State last semester, after transferring from Corning Community College in the fall of 2020. I will graduate in the spring of 2023, and I hope to attend Grad School at some point. I am still working out my next steps, but I have all the faith in the world that the next chapter is going to be amazing!

The two of us grew up and live in Chemung County so having the opportunity to intern at our local historical society was something neither of us could pass by. During our time here, we got to work on many different projects with the amazing staff at the Chemung County Historical Society. Ahead we will be describing some of those projects, what our goals were, and anything we may have learned from that experience.

Updating Education Cases

Separately we worked on updating two of the cases available for schools to borrow.

Phoenix- I worked on the Westward Expansion case. Some material was outdated or contained things not as helpful in modern classrooms, like CDs. I proposed some changes that could be made to current activities and created a lesson plan for a new interactive activity. It was a nice experience creating something that I know might be used in classrooms at some point.

Kevin- I looked through our case on Pop Culture. I ensured that everything was accounted for and looked over the potential that the case had. The case has a lot of potential for lessons; however, nothing new has been set in stone.

Representing the Museum

We both had opportunities to get out into the community.

Phoenix- One of the first things I did as an intern was represent the museum at the Early-Childhood Education Fair held at the Arnot Mall. I, along with a museum volunteer, got to meet many local families. In addition, Kevin and I attended the Brand Park Tuesday market together to  help get the word out about new exhibits and the museum’s summer walking tours. Being able to work with the community and show children that museums can be interesting to them is one of my favorite parts of going to events.

Kevin- I had the opportunity to represent the museum at the Juneteenth Event. I heard many wonderful stories and appreciated being out in the community. Starting in June, I had the opportunity to be at Wisner Market weekly. Along with another volunteer, Bob, we represented the museum to the community.

Blog Posts

You may have noticed that this is not a first blog for either of us!

Phoenix researching in the archives

Phoenix- I wrote a blog titled “Helen Booth Sprecher,” which covered Booth’s time in the WAAC/WAC during WWII. It also accompanied a panel we created for The Moving Wall’s visit to Eldridge Park. This experience gave me the opportunity to use our archives to read documents related to her.    

Kevin- I wrote a blog on the history of hockey in the City of Elmira called “Our Town, Our Teams: Hockey in Elmira.” I wrote it based on statistics and newspaper articles from The Star Gazette. It ranges from the Elmira College teams to the professional teams that used to call our area home. I also wrote an article on the history of football at Notre Dame High School which is being considered for the Chemung Historical Journal.

Community Work

We’ve gone out into the community and documented local history.

Phoenix- When The Moving Wall was at Eldridge Park, I took our camera to take photos and document this event for our records. It was interesting doing something like this because in the future people can look back and see what took place.

Kevin- As the result of a research request that we had received, I visited the War Town Monument (Sullivan Expedition) to record and confirm that the information gathered was accurate.

Exhibitions

Together, we worked with Monica, the Curator, to assist her with the installation of the new exhibit “Receding Waters: 50 Years After the Flood.” We de-installed the previous exhibit, returning objects to storage. We retrieved and helped prepare artifacts for the new exhibit. We worked in collections and became familiar with the software that organizes everything. We printed and assembled panels for the exhibit, and learned how to navigate various technical issues. It became an opportunity to improve our troubleshooting and creative problem-solving skills.

Smaller Projects

We had the chance to work on smaller projects too, things that are often overlooked or not thought about as much but showed us just how much goes into being a Curator or Archivist.

The two of us worked with Rachel to pre-catalog new and previously donated books for the collection.

Phoenix- Some of the other smaller projects I worked on included verifying dates for recently donated technology and artifacts to be included in the new exhibit. I also created a 1972 Flood Photo Album on Chemung County Historical Society’s Facebook page using photos from the archives.

Kevin- I assisted our archivist, Rachel, in clipping and filing newspapers. It has prompted me to start my own collection of magazines and articles that I receive to save for my own use.  

Teaching

Kevin guiding 2nd graders

As a collective with the Museum staff, we hosted visitors from local elementary schools and summer cohesion groups. We gained a lot of experience working with children and confidence in how to improvise solutions; learning when it is okay to move on and scrap an idea that is not quite working out the way we previously planned.

Grants

The museum’s Director, Bruce Whitmarsh, took time to share how grant funding works. He walked us through the process of applying for grants and talked about the importance of grants in operations at a small institution.

Overall, as our time here comes to a close, we both want to express our gratitude for the opportunities we were given. We both were able to experience and learn so much in the few months we were here and none of that would have been possible if it were for the amazing people who work and volunteer here. Everyone accepted us with open arms, and we can both agree that we already miss interning at the Chemung County Historical Society. 

Phoenix Andrews and Kevin Earley

 

 

It Takes a Village

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

CCHS has a small but mighty staff. Getting all the things we do done can often mean that we need help. We are grateful for our volunteers who help us out in so many different ways, and they are our ‘village.’ Volunteers have represented CCHS at different events, set up systems to make our work smoother, created inventories to keep track of journals, prepared activity bags for students, took tickets, greeted people at museum functions, scanned photos, and completed information documenting our collections. One volunteer even tested out our Ghost Walk path to make sure that this year it will be wheelchair friendly. When we pivoted to more online work, we found volunteers who worked remotely transcribing recordings from our collection, and others who videotaped and posted dramatic readings of past historical figures. By no means is this a comprehensive list but here are some of our volunteers along with a few of the things they’ve been working on. They also answered what cool discovery they’ve come across while volunteering.

Karen puts in about 10 hours a week at the Historical Society, helping out on all sorts of projects. Lately, she's put her previous background in lab work to use taking precise notes and entering information to reconcile the museum's stored collections. One of the cool discoveries she's come across was the original 1870 marriage certificate of Samuel and Olivia Clemens. Another surprise she came across was a beautiful array of intricate bone, stone, and ivory Inuit carvings. Karen started volunteering in 2019 greeting visitors at the front desk and for the past two summers she has sat at our information desk at Wisner Park during Thursday market days, spreading the word on the Museum's new exhibits and events. She also pitched in to help with last year's Ghost Walk. We have been lucky that Karen called us to volunteer and share her time and efforts helping us get our work done.

Karen and Susan sitting at Wisner Park

Daniel is another volunteer who contacted us looking to add to his academic and archive skills and experience. He has been putting in about 8 hours over two days a week organizing the Elmira Central Christian Church information. The Historical Society received many of the Church’s boxes of papers and information to organize, put into boxes and folders, and document. When asked what discovery he’s found, Daniel mentioned how working with the collection has let him see an evolution of the organization and arch of their story over time. Daniel’s volunteer efforts are critical in keeping ahead of the archive’s continuously growing collections.

Daniel working with our collection

Bob remembers his history classes fondly while growing up. As a volunteer, he divides his 6-8 hours a week between greeting visitors and organizing our vast journal collection. A collection that started way before digital devices. Bob is a people person always quick with a smile, compliment or a joke. He says he loves to show people around the museum helping them discover new things about the area. Responding to the coolest thing he’s come across, he cites the old bank vaults (and is still searching out lost pennies!) Bob has enjoyed rediscovering some of the history right here in Elmira and Chemung County, and says he believes the Chemung Valley History Museum is a great place to find out more.

Bob greeting visitors at the front desk

Georgia has been volunteering at the Chemung County Historical Society on a steady basis since early 2017, documenting photos from our vast collection. She is also a loyal attendee at our Out to Lunch talks and programs. “I only thought I knew about our history in Chemung County, but once I started working with the photos I realized I didn’t have a clue about how much history there is in this area. I couldn’t pick just one thing that was really cool - I didn’t realize Babe Ruth had played at Dunn Field, that a canoe train that would bring the canoes to a designated area, or that there were two airports in Elmira – one near Caton Ave. and another where Broadway School is located. The list of things that existed in Chemung County that I have found out about is long and it has been a wonderful journey. I look forward to every time I volunteer – just waiting to see what I will discover next.” 

 

Georgia working on photo documentation

Georgia, like Karen, Daniel, and Bob are just a few of the people who help us get it done, and we thank them and all our volunteers for their contributions to the Chemung County Historical Society. If you're interested in getting involved, or find out more about what we do, send an email to Educator@ChemungValleyMuseum.org

Heather testing the Ghost Walk route

Elmira History Forge: Discovering Local Stories

by Andrea Renshaw, Elmira HistoryForge Project Coordinator, and Missy Rozengota, Elmira HistoryForge volunteer

[HistoryForge is a digital mapping and transcription project that has partnered with the Chemung County Historical Society to create Elmira HistoryForge. The digital history project combines historic maps and photos with census records of the people who lived in Elmira, creating a way to visualize the history of Elmira in the early 1900s.  HistoryForge is made possible by generous support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.]

Elmira HistoryForge is off to a running start after our first weekend! We have 363 records down and 36,813 to go in the 1910 census. Thank you to all of our new volunteers! Check out all of their hard work at www.elmira.historyforge.net. They have been transcribing Elmira's first ward downtown near Railroad Avenue and heading west toward Davis Street. By selecting The Forge, you can see these records populated in their homes on the 1903 Sanborn map. Transcribing census records is volunteer work that you can do from the comfort of your own home, on your own schedule. The only thing you will need is a computer and an internet connection. Come join us in our goal to preserve the stories of past Elmirans. You will be amazed at the interesting people you will find. For more information, contact me at historyforge@chemungvalleymuseum.org.  

- Andrea Renshaw

 

To kick off Women's History month one of our volunteers, Missy Rozengota, is sharing an amazing woman she found in the 1910 census; Mrs. Anna Campbell Palmer. 

Mrs. Anna Campbell Palmer

 

Anna Campbell Palmer was a lifelong Elmiran and a renowned writer who began her career at age 10 after publishing a poem in the Ithaca Journal. At just 14, Anna was orphaned; undaunted by such a tragedy she became a teacher at age 16. She was a beloved teacher at School #2 (Arthur W. Booth school) on Davis street where she worked for the next ten years.  After marrying George Archibald Palmer she gave up her career as a teacher and focused on her family and her writing.

Arthur W. Booth School

 

She wrote articles for The Evening Star, The Telegram Advertiser and The NY Globe.  Her career advanced her to the position of editor of several local papers, and in 1889 she became the only woman editor to a young man's journal in the world when she worked for the YMCA's "Young Men's Journal".

 

Anna was also well known for her Young Adult books. She might have been better known to some of her readers as Mrs. George Archibald, her husband's given name which she took as her pen name. The Lady Gay books, A Little Brown Seed, and A Dozen Good Times are some of her most cherished books for children. Along with books for children Anna wrote a biography of her beloved teacher Joel Dorman Steele in 1900.  She even began her own history of the Chemung Valley, but was forced to hand the task over as her eyesight failed in later years.

 

1910 census

In 1910 we find Anna living at 363 College Ave (building is no longer there) with her family; her husband George and her daughters George Anna (Georgianna) and Sally. Sharing her home we also see her Mother-in-law Sally Palmer and 73 year old border name Martha Nicks. 

 

Georgianna Palmer

Her daughters' talents came in the form of music; Georgianna being a piano teacher and Sally a vocal teacher. If the name Georgianna Palmer rings a bell you may be recalling her from CCHS’s exhibit, The Band Played On https://cchsonlineexhibits.wixsite.com/music/teachers. Following in her mother’s footsteps Georgianna became a teacher, and is listed as one of 58 music teachers in our 1910 census. Georgianna’s career spanned over 70 years, beginning at the young age of 15. She honored the city of Elmira by sharing her musical talents, and they honored her with a scholarship in her name; The Georgianna Palmer Music Scholarship. At her passing in 1968, Georgianna, just like her mother, had lived a life to make her community proud.

 

I picture their home now as I drive down College Ave, not as the parking lot it is now, (a parking lot on the corner of College and Second St.), but a beautiful home full of music and literature. I cannot wait to see these amazing women again in the 1920 census!

 

- Missy Rozengota

 

Join us at  HistoryForge by contacting the Project Coordinatorat historyforge@chemungvalleymuseum.org  or visiting www.elmira.historyforge.net.

What Really Went on in Those Church Meetings??

by volunteer Kristen Goble

This summer, archivist Rachel Dworkin, assigned me the task of sorting and cataloging the United Baptist Church Collection.  While sorting the collection I came across the First Baptist Church Meeting Minutes for the years 1829-1859.  Although the book looked ancient,  once I got past my fear of touching it and having to explain to the staff how exactly the book turned into a pile of dust on the research table, I became completely engrossed.  The detailed accounts of every meeting, written out in beautiful penmanship, going back to the early days of settlement in the Chemung Valley were by far my favorite part of the collection. 

Page from the First Baptist Church Ledger

For me, the most interesting meetings dealt with problem members of First Baptist Church.  Members of the newly formed church were expected to abide by a strict moral code of conduct.  As in any community though, there were a few rebellious types who neglected to uphold the church imposed standards of the day.  In the records, I came across members who were accused of heresy, using foul language, and a certain female supposedly dressed in men’s clothing and attended a gentlemen’s lecture (shocking!).

These rebellious members were all paid a visit by a committee of elders and, if the offense was bad enough, faced exclusion from the church.  It seems the offender, or her husband, was usually given a chance to publically apologize to the church and ask forgiveness for their behavior.  If the church elders felt an honest apology was made, the member would be allowed to resume their relationship with the church.  I did come across an occasion when a female church member was denied reacceptance because her apology was deemed insincere.  Regardless of the outcome, the church always prayed for the offender’s soul.

The early First Baptist Church was also quite charitable.  If any church family was in need, the elders would discuss it at the church meeting.  From there, a delegate from the church would pay a visit to the head of the family to determine why they were experiencing hardship.  Were they just down on their luck, or was there a misappropriation of money?  From there, the delegate would report back to the church at the next meeting.  If the family was deemed to have a legitimate need, the church would provide them with financial assistance.  If the need was due to gambling… well, see the previous paragraph… Once the family had regained financial security, repayment of the money was expected.

This book was just one of many treasures I found in the United Baptist Church Collection.  After scouring it, I became completely enamored with the project and learned more than I ever imagined about First Baptist Church and Southside Baptist Church.  I am very grateful to Rachel for her help and the opportunity to work with this incredible collection.

Original First Baptist Church