Our director Ben Sandberg traveled to Albany the first weekend of April for the annual Museum Association of New York conference - this year's theme "Giving Voice to Value". It is validating for our staff to see and experience museum staff from across New York working through and tackling similar questions and solution-seeking to the work we do here at home. The work of finding funding, meeting audience expectations and interests, and the long work of how museums can be part of historical repair, reparations, and community building. Ben came home full of new ideas! Even more exciting next year MANY's conference is being hosted IN ITHACA NY! Mark your calendars for April 5-8th 2025. 
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Our thanks to the organizers of Firebrand Books Historic Marker Fundraiser - their campaign was hugely successful! The funds raised over the amount to fund the installation of a permanent marker documenting the historic importance of Firebrand Books, has been promised to The History Center to help with our archival processing and preservation of LGBTQ histories in Tompkins County. If you want to further support these efforts, you can make additional donations at thehistorycenter.net/donate - just specify "Firebrand" in the submission notes. 
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Ushering in the New York State Parks Centennial anniversary celebration, a new exhibit honoring the legacy Robert H. Treman was unveiled in the Tompkins Center for History & Culture atrium tower. An important figure in the creation of our park and historic site system, Treman was a banker and conservationist who donated hundreds of acres of land for preservation. Ultimately serving as the very first Finger Lakes Regional Commissioner, he oversaw the creation of several state parks including Fillmore Glen, Cayuga Lake, and Fair Haven Beach.