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Time Travel: Hello Girls
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorIn Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889), a character travels back in time to the medieval era. Observing the behavior of damsels in those...
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Don’t Ask AI
By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist In the last year, I’ve gotten more than a few requests from researchers to confirm something AI told them. In each case, much of what AI told them was wrong. I’ve also had...
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Charles G. Elliott: A Man of War and Roses
by Erin Doane, Senior CuratorDistinguished Service Cross Citation for Charles G. Elliot, January 10, 1919When my husband and I were planning our wedding, we visited several florists. The first two...
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Discovered History: Summer Cohesion
By Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorWhat do clues, white curator gloves, pencils, paper, and objects have in common with eight- and nine-year-olds during the summer? It might sound like a sure recipe...
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Up in Smoke: The Southern Tier Sanitary Fair
By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist The Southern Tier Sanitary Fair opened on the evening of March 14, 1864 at the newly-constructed First Presbyterian Church. The planning committee included all sorts of...
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The Bicentennial Bridge
by Erin Doane, Senior CuratorIf someone asked you where the Bicentennial Bridge in Elmira is, could you tell them? Until a short time ago, I couldn’t have. My recent research into how we celebrated the...
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Annis Ford Eastman, A Woman with Heart
By Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorOne of the leading figures in Elmira at the beginning of the 20th century was a woman who became a minister in a time of few such opportunities for women. Born in...
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Racial Housing Covenants
by Rachel Dworkin, archivistIn February 1958, Ganung Realty Company listed 917 Lake Street in Elmira for sale. The spacious home had 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, an attic playroom, multiple fireplaces, and an...
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When Lovell’s Drug Store Ran Out of Ice Cream
by Erin Doane, Senior CuratorPostcard of a watercolor painting of Lovell’s Snack Bar by Talitha Botsford“Sorry! No More Ice Cream This Month!” read the advertisement in the Star-Gazette. It was...
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Lights, Camera, Action: Oliver Smith
By Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorRecently, Kelsey Jones, the Chemung County historian, passed along the name of someone buried in Woodlawn Cemetery with impressive Hollywood ties. It’s not Hal...
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The Tale of Katie Bredehoft or How to Conduct an Investigation
By Rachel Dworkin, archivistBredehoft marker, 2026 On April 14, 2026, the Chemung County Historical Society unveiled our latest historic marker on Bancroft Road. It marks the spot where a group of...
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The AIDS Memorial Quilt: 40 Years Later
by Erin Doane, Senior CuratorIn 1981, doctors in Los Angeles reported a rare lung infection in five previously healthy young gay men. Doctors in New York and California also reported cases of a rare,...
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Strike! The Secret History of Elmira's 1840s Bowling Saloons
By Milo Miller, CCHS VolunteerLucy Rossi Cesari, 1950s, CCHS CollectionBecause bowling surged in popularity during the twentieth-century, many in today’s Elmira would be surprised to learn that the...
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Sweet Home Big Flats: The Story of DeMet’s Turtles and Their New York Connection
by Karen Meade, CCHS VolunteerIf you're ever passing through Chemung Valley on 1-86 or walking on the Sperr Memorial Park trail and catch a faint, chocolatey sweetness in the air, you'll know where...
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DIY Newspaper Jigsaw Puzzles
by Erin Doane, Senior CuratorI love jigsaw puzzles and I love happening upon random interesting things in historic newspapers. A recent find brought both these loves crashing together. From February 6...
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Purity Above All
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorThis is a story of a business whose success literally ran dry. In early 1900, downtown Elmira was abuzz. There were over 35,000 people living in the city and 54,000...
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Frederick Douglass in Elmira
By Rachel Dworkin, archivist During his lifetime, Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818-February 20, 1895) was arguably the most famous Black man in America, if not the world. He was an ardent...
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A Unique Opportunity for Change
by Bruce Whitmarsh, Executive DirectorCCHS Executive Director, Bruce WhitmarshThroughout 2025 the Chemung County Historical Society Board of Trustees worked on updating their own internal operations....
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Natsue Yogi Kobayashi Co-founder & Director of Elmira’s Second Place East...
by Judith Edson Sheasley, a volunteer at CCHS“Strengthening the fabric of family life” was the goal of Elmira’s First Methodist Church (which stood on Baldwin Street north of West Church Street on...
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War Brides
By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist During and shortly after World War II, American servicemen married approximately 60,000 European women, plus another 4,000 from Australia and New Zeeland. At the time, the...
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