County historian unveils Tompkins County bicentennial signs, brochures and map project

Carol Kamen, the county historian, told the Tompkins County Legislature that the Bicentennial Commission’s first two projects are new historical signs and town brochures that will be rolled out over the summer.

“These will be put up during the summer, and we will have an ice cream social at each one of the erections of these signs,” Kamen said, describing student-designed logos and the sign program’s vetting process with town historians. She said the signs are pale blue with dark blue lettering and that some wording required multiple revisions with local historians.

Kamen said the second project is a packet of town brochures created by each town’s appointed historian and that a packet for the City of Ithaca is forthcoming. She also described a third effort inviting residents to submit maps and annotated materials for a county display at the library.

Legislators asked for photographs and maps showing planned installation sites and for the county to post images on its website so constituents can see where the markers will be placed. The legislature also discussed presenting the bicentennial web content during the meeting recess.