Professor Edward Eugene Baptist speaks at TCPL on October 14, 2014 at 6 PM

Edward E. Baptist, associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of History, will give a presentation on Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War, at 6 PM on Tuesday, October 14.  

Baptist is a noted scholar and speaker on the enslavement of African Americans in the southern United States.  He teaches courses on the Civil War, slavery, the American South, masculinity, modernity and modernization, the first half of the American survey, and 19th century U.S. History. His recently-released book, “The Half Has Never Been Told:  Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism,” has received critical acclaim and sparked debate over its radical interpretation of American history.”

This program is being held in conjunction with the Library’s current exhibit, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War,” a nationally traveling exhibition exploring Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War.


This 1,000 square foot, thematic exhibit offers an intriguing perspective of the challenges America’s much-heralded 16th president faced during the Civil War and describes his use of the Constitution as a guide for tackling the major issues of the war—secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties. It is on display in the Avenue of The Friends.

The exhibit, which runs through October 30, and its corresponding programs and exhibits are being held in conjunction with Tompkins County Public Library’s year-long Sesquicentennial Celebration, “150 Years and Counting.”

Baptist’s talk is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Sally Grubb at (607) 272-4557 extension 232 or sgrubb@tcpl.org.

“Lincoln:  the Constitution and the Civil War,” a traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.   “Lincoln:  the Constitution and the Civil War” is based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.

TCPL offers after-hours access to exhibits during Gallery Night Friday, October 3

If you missed our special 150 Years and Counting celebration last weekend, join us on Friday, October 3, when TCPL participates in Gallery Opening Night from 5 to 8 PM.
Entry to the Library after 5 PM is through the BorgWarner Community Room door behind the Bus Shelter on Green Street.

Four exhibits are on display: Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War, an ALA traveling exhibit which will be at the Library through the end of October; Tompkins County in a Time of War: On the Home Front and on the Battlefield, which features artifacts used by members of the local community during the time of the Civil War and now loaned from the collection of the History Center in Tompkins County; Mightier than the Sword: The impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Library's featured book during Banned Books week; and Montage Histories: Tompkins County, New York, through Photographs 1864-2014 which illustrates the changes experienced by significant buildings, places and landscapes during the 150 years since the Library was founded in 1864.

View these exhibits after hours when quiet voices are not required and the Library acts as an Art Gallery and not as a Library.  Purchase a copy of the exhibit catalog for Montage Histories, available for $17.25 while stocks last.  When all copies are sold, additional copies can be obtained via "print on demand". Go to MagCloud and search for Montage Histories.  Individual copies cost $17.29 plus shipping.

150 Years and Counting: TCPL Continues Year-long Sesquicentennial Celebration

TCPL continues its year-long sesquicentennial celebration with a series of exhibits and related programs.

September 26 - 28 2014 A weekend-long exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War.

Friday, September 26,  5 – 7 pm
After-hours access to the traveling exhibit which inspired the Library’s celebration for an evening of art featuring self-guided tours of Lincoln:  The Constitution and the Civil War and its three companion exhibits, Montage Histories:  Tompkins County, New York, through Photographs 1864-2014, Tompkins County in a Time of War:  Life on the Home Front and on the Battlefield and Mightier than the Sword: The Impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

5:30 pm 
Cornell University’s Glee Club, under the direction of Robert Isaacs, will perform Toby Twining’s “Lincoln the Musician,” a dramatic and compelling interpretation of the Gettysburg Address.

7 pm  
Cinemapolis will present Civil Warriors, an original  film produced by PhotoSynthesis Productions about the first African American regiment and the Ithaca men who registered to fight in the Civil War.  A panel discussion moderated by Eric Acree, featuring narrator Professor Sean Eversley-Bradwell and co-producers/directors Che Broadnax and Deborah Hoard will be held immediately following the screening.

Saturday, September 27, 11 am - 2 pm 
A representative of TCPL’s Teen Advisory Group, portraying Abraham Lincoln, will serve as a docent providing mini tours of “Lincoln:  The Constitution and the Civil War.”

4 pm
Excerpts from  Uncle Tom’s Cabin, TCPL's featured book during Banned Books/Freedom to Read, will be read during the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation’s  Second Annual Readathon.

Sunday, September 28, 2 pm 
Elmira College Professor Charlie Mitchell will present “Re-reading Uncle Tom's Cabin after Django Unchained and Twelve Years a Slave,” an illustrated lecture.  This program will be held in the Library’s BorgWarner Community Room.

October - date to be decided
Edward E. Baptist, associate professor, Department of History, House Professor and Dean, Carl Becker House, Cornell University, will talk about Lincoln and the Civil War.

Wednesday October 22, 7 pm
“The Language of War,” an original dramatic reading presented by the Tompkins County Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration Commission will offer a local perspective on life in Tompkins County during the Civil War and capture the drama of the era.

Separate blogs about each exhibit will follow.

Screening of Civil Warriors at Cinemapolis part of Sesquicentennial Celebration

150 Years and Counting: Tompkins County Public Library Continues Year-long Sesquicentennial Celebration with presentation of Civil Warriors at Cinemapolis at 7 PM on Friday, September 26, after the opening reception for Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War.

TCPL is proud to present the premier screening at Cinemapolis of Civil Warriors, a documentary film by Deborah C. Hoard and Che Broadnax that brings to life the true story of the 26 black men from Tompkins County who enlisted in the Civil War’s first regiment of African American soldiers.  

Their story begins on December 24, 1863 and unfolds as the rhythm and energy of contemporary spoken word performances mix with historical images and music. The film’s narrator, Sean Eversley-Bradwell, Ithaca College assistant professor, Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, provides historical and personal perspective 150 years after these men stepped up to wear the uniform of a country that called them “boy.”

A panel discussion moderated by Eric Acree, director of Cornell University’s Africana Library featuring Professor Bradwell and co-producers/directors Hoard and Broadnax will take place immediately following the screening.

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War

As 2014 comes to an end, TCPL continues the celebration of its Sesquicentennial. 

The Library was founded during the upheaval of Civil War. Tompkins County sent volunteers, including 26 black men, to join the Union army and Ithaca was designated by New York State as a training and embarkation point.  Despite the uncertainties the economy flourished. Ezra Cornell proposed the creation of a free library in 1862, and legislation was passed on April 4, 1864 authorizing him “to found a public Library and Literary Institution in the village of Ithaca.” At the Library’s inauguration, Cornell stated “Fellow Citizens of Ithaca, this library belongs to you and to the other residents of the county of Tompkins.”

In honor of Ezra Cornell’s commitment to and recognition of community amidst the uncertainties of war, TCPL presents the American Library Association’s traveling exhibit Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War, a thematic display that offers an intriguing perspective of the challenges America’s much-heralded 16th president faced during the Civil War. This timely exhibit describes Lincoln’s use of the Constitution as a guide for tackling the major issues of the war—secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties.  

Secession vs. Union Illustration from Harper's Weekly1864

A series of panels placed in the Avenue of the Friends depict important themes: 
LINCOLN: his second inauguration and taking of the Oath of Office; 
DIVIDED: are we a single nation or a confederacy of sovereign and separate states?; BOUND: can slavery be uprooted by constitutional means?;  
DISSENT: the crisis of civil liberties: must civil liberties give way to save the nation?; ENDURES: leaves us with the question, “Has America lived up to the ideals Lincoln fought for -  Equality, Freedom, Democracy?”

Two New Exhibits and an Art Installation are featured at Gallery Opening Night, Friday, July 11

 A COMMON THREAD: To Sew or Not to Sew a Fashion Exhibit Curated by Elizabeth Mount opens in the Avenue of the Friends. This intriguing exhibit explores recent changes in the way clothes are made from the traditional, painstaking needle and thread and home sewing machine method, to fast fashion and creating garments with glue and tape and laser cutters. Beautiful and traditional garments created by local artists, are displayed side by side with funky creations made with recycled materials and one-of-a-kind designs from students in Cornell’s Fiber and Design Apparel Department, and presents the amazing fibers now used to create protective clothing as well as glues and tapes that avoid the use of sewing at all.

Visual Culture at Ithaca High School: the Annual Student Art Exhibit sponsored by the High School Art Deprtment; features some extraordinary images created by students during the past school year.


I Look Silly an Art Installation outside and inside the library created by abstract artist Ryan McGuire will bring a smile to your face.  This whimsical installation features portraits of sixty local Ithacans wearing Groucho Marx disguises displayed on the windows of the Library facing onto Green Street and inside in the North Reading Room. Prints of the whole series of portraits will be available for order and the net proceeds from their sale will be donated to the Library. 

Curators, participating artists and Groucho Marx look alikes will be present to talk about the exhibits.  During the evening a special video of the Cornell University Fashion Runway Show will be shown in the BorgWarner Room and will be available for viewing on a dedicate computer near the Avenue of the Friends throughout the exhibit.


Join us for a very special evening, Friday, July 11 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Refeshments will be served in the BorgWarner Room. 

Visual Culture at IHS returns to TCPL June, July & August

Visual Culture at IHS, the annual art exhibit curated by the faculty and featuring the work of Ithaca High School students returns to the Library for a two part exhibit during June, July and August.

During June this exhibit has featured the work of students in Ceramics & Sculpture displayed in the Avenue of the Friends.

During July and August the exhibit will feature artwork created this past year by IHS students in Drawing & Painting, Studio Art, Digital & Film Photography, and AP Studio Art.

The art students at Ithaca High School want to talk about what they know, see and feel through their art.  Their images are personal portraits and perspectives of their environment, their friends, their lives and their imaginations.  Text and image, faces and places are presented as a visual dialogue of these young artists’ lives.

This exhibit is made possible support from the Fine Arts Booster Group & IPEI.

An opening reception will be held during Gallery Opening Night on Friday, July 11, 2014.