M E D I A R E L E A S E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Greg L. Potter, Assistant Director
607-273-8284/273-6107 FAX
gpotter@lakenet.org

DeWitt Historical Society Awarded Grant to

Preserve Historic Scrapbooks

Ithaca - The DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County has announced receipt of a New York State Library Conservation/Preservation program grant that will be used to stabilize the Society's large collection of historic scrapbooks. The project, which is part of an ongoing effort by DHS to increase public access to its collections, is slated to begin in early September.

The scrapbook collection consists of over 400 volumes, some of which date back to the early nineteenth century, containing a variety of materials including newspaper and periodical clippings, photographs, programs from local performance events, correspondence of many types, trade cards, catalogs, pressed flowers, and other memorabilia, most of which relates directly to the history of Tompkins County.

According to DHS archivist Donna Eschenbrenner, these volumes are an invaluable resource in local history research because they provide the kind of detailed information about day-to-day life that is hard to come by from other sources. "Our archival collections in general provide a great deal of information about specific places, people, and events in local history. The scrapbooks, however, provide information about the little things in history that allow a researcher to create a context for their research."

Due to the age of the scrapbooks most of them have experienced some degree of deterioration, which prevents their being fully accessible to the public. Because the scrapbooks in the collection are of so many different sizes, shapes, and formats, they are very difficult to store and use properly, which contributes to their continuing deterioration. According to Eschenbrenner, the grant awarded to the DeWitt by the State Library will be used to have specially-made containers for the scrapbooks constructed. These archival-quality boxes will give added stability to the volumes during storage and use, and will extend the useful life of this unique resource by many years.

For more information about research resources available through the DeWitt Historical Society, contact the Tompkins County Museum at 607-273-8284.