History

Data@Museums

The History Center in Tompkins County

Photo courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County.

The History Center in Tompkins County (New York) has developed an innovative open-source digital history platform called HistoryForge which enables public access to the rich historic demographic data in the U.S. population censuses. HistoryForge is designed for use by communities across the country.

On HistoryForge, locally transcribed census records are fully searchable, allowing users to search on any of the fields in each census to explore historical trends in their community, such as shifts in employment or immigration, and to learn about the specific individuals and families whose lives were impacted. Census records are also attached to building and person authority records which link them across time and space, while providing additional information and photographs about the buildings and people who lived in the community.

To learn more about HistoryForge, visit the HistoryForge website . Then explore our original HistoryForge installation, visit Tompkins HistoryForge to see the platform in action.