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SS Ross G. Marvin: World War II Liberty Ship
by Erin Doane, curatorOn November 29, 1943 at 3:45pm, Mrs. Gertrude Colegrove Tum of Elmira stood in Baltimore’s Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard. In her gloved hands she held a champagne bottle wrapped in...
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Police Collection
By Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistThis past Wednesday, the Elmira Police Department agreed to loan us their entire history collection for use in our upcoming exhibit Crime and Punishment. Their only...
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The Tragic Story of Peggy the Dog Heroine
By Kelli Huggins, Education CoordinatorAt 3:15 a.m. on January 30, 1946, a fire swept through an apartment building at 107 College Avenue in Elmira. Peggy, a 4 ½-month-old collie puppy, woke her owner,...
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Executions in Elmira
by Erin Doane, curatorDuring the 19th century, more than 90 people were executed in New York State. Three of those executions took place in Elmira. Henry Gardner – Executed March 1, 1867 for the murder...
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Dead Presidents
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistOver the course of United States history, four presidents have been assassinated in office: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. In each...
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Competitive Eating: A Local History
By Kelli Huggins, Education CoordinatorIn recent years, competitive eating has become a popular and widely-recognized activity (some would say sport) with professional organizations and contests with...
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A Tragic History of Tiny Stoves
by Erin Doane, curatorChildren love to pretend to cook. That’s not surprising as food is such a huge part of our lives. I remember making mud “pies,” milk weed pod “pickles,” and “pizza” out of a piece...
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If I’d Known You Were Coming, I’d Have Baked a Cake
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistPork Cake – Half a pound of salt pork chopped fine, two cups of molasses, half-pound of raisins chopped well, two eggs, two teaspoons each of clove, allspice and mace, half...
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Is Your Pantry Ready?
By Megan Barney, Elmira College InternDuring the 1950s and 1960s, there was a widespread fear of nuclear war. In response, the government advocated for the creation of fallout shelters, both in...
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Potato Fight: New York vs. Maine, An Early “Buy Local” Movement
By Kelli Huggins, Education CoordinatorWhen I ask you to think of a state known for potatoes, you probably think of Idaho, right? Well, in the 19th and early-to-mid-20th century, you probably would...
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The Elmira Advertiser Fire of 1888
by Erin Doane, curatorRecently, I came across a box of metal type letters in the museum’s collection. A note on the box read: Type salvaged from the Advertiser fire of 1888. That made me think, “What...
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WESG: Broadcasting Live from the Mark Twain Hotel
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistIn recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about how the internet is killing print media. It’s stealing readers, people whine. Why would anyone buy a newspaper when they...
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Finding Horace McDuffee: A Historian’s Struggle
By Kelli Huggins, Education CoordinatorHorace McDuffee with unidentified catThe photograph above, with this older man and his cat in a humorous scenario, is one of my absolute favorites in our...
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A Day in the Life
by Erin Doane, curatorOld newspapers are great sources of information. If you read a newspaper from a single day you can get a fascinating glimpse into the past that hints at the large historical...
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The Great Escape
By Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistAt 3:30 am on the morning of October 7, 1864, a man emerged from a hole on a side street by the northern fence of the Elmira Prison Camp. He was Washington B. Traweek, a...
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The Donkeys of Rorick’s Glen
By Kelli Huggins, Education CoordinatorWhen we talk about Rorick’s Glen, we mostly remember it for its amusement rides, theater that hosted the Manhattan Opera Company every summer, and its connections...
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A Courtroom Mystery
by Erin Doane, curatorI was recently summoned for jury duty at the Chemung County courthouse. This turned out to be an unexpected opportunity to learn a little more about local history. When I entered...
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Digitize This!
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistWho doesn’t love a good digital collection? It’s just so handy having everything right there at your fingertips instead of having to schlep all over creation to track it...
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Henry Wilson’s Walks
By Kelli Huggins, Education CoordinatorElmiran Henry Wilson took something rather mundane, in his case, walking, and made it extraordinary. He could walk a lot and over long distances. To my knowledge,...
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Colored Citizens of Elmira
by Erin Doane, curatorIn 1844, the Colored Citizens of Elmira was formed. The organization was created to help promote social, economic, and political issues important to the African-American...
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