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The Luck of the Irish
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorCurrently events around the world are being reevaluated as preventative measures against spreading this year's coronavirus. Cities like Boston and Chicago have...
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Our Local Whiskeys
by Erin Doane, CuratorInternationalWhisk(e)y Day is coming up on March 27 and World Whisky Day is on May 16 (it takes place on the third Saturday of May each year). This is a great time to learn about...
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The First Quarantine
The First Quarantineby Rachel Dworkin, archivistOn the morning of October 15, 1918, Elmira Free Academy freshman Clara Gilbert was on her way to school with friends when they were stopped by a...
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The Seven Muses of Elmira
by Susan Zehnder, Education Director Traveling west on Church Street, drivers pass a large welcome sign with larger-than-life images of seven people connected with Elmira’s history.The slogan “Welcome...
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It’s a Twister! A Twister!
by Erin Doane, CuratorReading Susan’s postlast week about the “Welcome to Elmira” sign on West Church Street reminded me that we also had a welcome sign on West Water Street up until 2012. On July 26...
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Typhoid and Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company
by Rachel Dworkin, archivistThe other day, I watched an interesting YouTube video on the long-term cultural and political impact of the Bubonic Plague in Western Europe. At this point, it’s too early...
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The Smallpox Epidemic at the Elmira Prison Camp
By Gary EmersonSpeaker in 2020 CCHS Civil War Speaker SeriesSchuyler County HistorianPhD candidate in American History at Binghamton University(Mr. Emerson has recorded his Civil War talk for us to...
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Posters Spread the Word
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorThe Chemung County Historical Society is sponsoring a COVID19 Awareness Poster Contest for area students. Posters are due online by June 1st and more details can be...
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Chemung County’s First Fatal Automobile Accident
by Erin Doane, CuratorOn July 5, 1914, Dr. Sherman Voorhees, his wife Lilian, and their son Sherman, who was known as “Laddie,” were motoring along what is now Comfort Hill Road in the town of Ashland....
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The Sisters of St. Joseph
by Rachel Dworkin, archivistIn spring 1907, Mother Agnes of the Order of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester knelt in the chapel of the Nazareth Convent waiting for a sign from god. J. John Hassett...
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Bricks and Mortar
By Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorLike many organizations, our small and vibrant Chemung Valley History Museum, run by the Chemung County Historical Society, has been on #NYPause since mid-March....
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Working at the Elmira Knitting Mills
by Erin Doane, CuratorElmira Knitting Mills was one of the first industries in Elmira Heights. It was founded in 1893 by five Elmira men – Matthias Arnot, Charles M. Tompkins, Harlan H. Hallock, Casper...
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The Fierce Urgency of Now
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistBy now, you may have noticed that we are living in unprecedented times. A global pandemic has killed more Americans in three months than died in the Vietnam and Korean Wars...
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Juneteenth
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorOn June 19th in 1865, two months after the last significant battles of the Civil War had ended, the Union General Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston,...
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Tales from a Flooded Hotel
by Erin Doane, CuratorOn Wednesday, June 21, 1972, the rains from Hurricane Agnes began to fall on the Twin Tiers. By the next day, the Chemung River was at 15 feet in Elmira, local creeks were...
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Dying on the Oregon Trail
by Rachel Dworkin, archivistAs a kid, I loved playing Oregon Trail. The educational computer game was first released in 1971 and our teachers had us play it in school whenever they were feeling too...
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Play On!
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorToday July 6th, the Museum and Booth Library are opening doors after more than one hundred days of closure due to the COVID19 pandemic. To protect our visitors and...
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Bird Brains: Gulls on the Chemung River
by Erin Doane, CuratorIn 2009, ring-billed gulls were the scourge of downtown Elmira. The nearly 800 nesting pairs that called the small island between the Main Street and Clemens Center Parkway...
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How Racism Kills
By Rachel Dworkin, archivist Shortly after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, a young researcher asked me if anyone in Elmira had ever died because they were Black. The only...
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Crystal Eastman
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorComing across a name twice in one week is a good sign to dig a little deeper, and this is how I was introduced to Crystal Eastman. Turns out not only did this woman...
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