Latest News
Homer NY added to Freethought Trail
May 1, 2025
Homer Congregational Church added to the National Dress Reform Association articles on the Freethought Trail
New History of the Museum Room completed
July 11, 2024
The new History of the Museum room has been completed at the Ingersoll Museum.
Coverage of Emma Goldman Greatly Expands
July 14, 2021
The Freethought Trail has greatly expanded its coverage of anarchist firebrand Emma Goldman, who lived in Rochester during her first years in America and often returned to the "Flower City" as a high-profile speaker on anarchism, sex radicalism, and culture.
Ingersoll Museum reopens Saturday, July 3!
June 30, 2021
1912 Utica Suffrage Convention Mysteries Solved!
January 25, 2021
1912's New York State woman suffrage convention in Utica is no longer "the convention about which almost nothing is known."
New Details Emerge about 1912 Utica Suffrage Meeting
January 8, 2021
New research commissioned by the Freethought Trail has shed new light on the site's most obscure state woman's rights convention, the little-documented October 1912 gathering held at Utica, New York.
Anonymous Tip Solves 143 Year Old Mystery
January 5, 2021
An anonymous email from a Rochester historian led to the solution of a 143-year-old mystery: Where had an important 1878 woman's rights convention been held?
New Profile Page for Maud Ingersoll Probasco
December 28, 2020
Maud Ingersoll Probasco (1864–1936) has become the thirty-seventh individual to be honored with a biographical Profile on the Freethought Trail website.
Ingersoll Daughter Linked to Suffrage in New York State
November 30, 2020
Maud Ingersoll Probasco, youngest daughter of nineteenth-century agnostic orator Robert Green Ingersoll, served as treasurer of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) in 1913.
National Women's Hall of Fame Location Updated
November 13, 2020
In August 2020 the National Women's Hall of Fame moved to a new location, just across the Cayuga Seneca Canal from downtown Seneca Falls.
New Curated Trail Commemorates Sixteen Key Suffrage Conventions
July 24, 2020
A seventeenth Curated Trail has been added to the Freethought Trail. The Woman Suffrage Convention Trail identifies and interprets all the venues at which sixteen influential woman suffrage conventions were held.
Freethought Trail Grows to 173 Sites, 141 Events
July 22, 2020
The Freethought Trail has completed its addition of Site and Event pages relating to New York State Woman Suffrage Association conventions in west-central New York, one month before the 100th anniversary of woman suffrage in the United States. These additions bring the Trail to a record 173 historic sites; 141 historical events; 35 activists and organizations; and 32 locations between Churchville, New York, on the east and Utica on the west.
Amelia Bloomer Honored on the Freethought Trail
July 15, 2020
Woman's rights and dress reform advocate Amelia Jenks Bloomer has been honored with a new Profile and two new Sites pages on the Freethought Trail.
Five Curated Trails Expand
June 12, 2020
Five of the Freethought Trail's Curated Trails—suggested tours for those with particular historic interests—have been expanded, reflecting the Trail's significant growth (now 159 sites).
Freethought Trail Adds 150th Historic Site
May 11, 2020
The Freethought Trail has reached another milestone, designating its 150th historic site page.
Ingersoll Museum to Remain Closed Due to COVID-19
May 7, 2020
For Immediate Release: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council for Secular Humanism announced this week that the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum will not open as scheduled on Memorial Day weekend, and will remain closed until further notice.
New "Events" Category Fully Populated
March 11, 2020
Well ahead of schedule, the Freethought Trail has fully populated its newly-added category, Historical Events.
First New Suffrage Convention Pages to "Go Live" on Freethought Trail
February 20, 2020
The first new pages interpreting annual conventions of the New York Woman Suffrage Association held in west-central New York State between 1890 and 1914 will "go live" in early March on the Freethought Trail.
Freethought Trail Unveils New Category: Events
February 20, 2020
In a significant expansion, the Freethought Trail will open a major new presentation category: Events. Beginning in March, the Trail will interpret historic radical-reform activism in west-central New York State through the categories of Profiles (reformer biographies), Sites (historic places), and now Events.
New on the Freethought Trail: Follow the Steps of Ingersoll!
February 10, 2020
A new Curated Trail added to the Freethought Trail website brings together the fifteen historic sites where Robert Green Ingersoll lectured in west-central New York State.
Freethought Meeting Site Receives Historical Marker
January 27, 2020
Fourteen Ingersoll Venues Revealed / Expanded
October 7, 2019
The Ingersoll Chronology Returns!
September 11, 2019
Freethought Trail Begins Observance of Suffrage Centennial
September 4, 2019
The Freethought Trail has begun its observance of the centenary of woman suffrage by expanding its core coverage of the suffrage movement. The following existing informational pages have been significantly expanded:
Freethought Trail Spotlights Susan B. Anthony's Trial for Voting
September 4, 2019
The Freethought Trail continues its ongoing observance of the centenary of woman suffrage by adding pages to interpret the trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting illegally in the U. S. Presidential election of 1872. New pages profile Canandaigua, New York, where the trial was held; and the Ontario County Courthouse located there, where the important trial actually took place.
190-Year-Old Lecture Identified!
March 24, 2019
Persistent research has made possible the addition of a new site to the Freethought Trail: the site where sex radical Frances "Fanny" Wright probably gave a consequential lecture in Auburn, New York, in 1829.
Five New Sites (and New Information) Added to Trail
March 11, 2019
The Freethought Trail has added five new sites (bringing the total number of sites to a record 123) and enriched its coverage of nineteenth-century antislavery political action.
The Trail Grows Again
July 18, 2018
Three new sites and two new biographies of reformers have been added to the Freethought Trail. In all, the Trail now includes a record 118 historic sites.
Penn Yan Chronicle Express Notes Museum's Silver Anniversary
July 9, 2018
The weekly newspaper the Penn Yan Chronicle Express posted a story on June 30 making note of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum's 25th anniversary season.
Gage Opera Comes to Cazenovia July 20
July 6, 2018
Pushed Aside: Reclaiming Gage, a commissioned opera about Fayetteville suffragist and freethinker Matilda Joslyn Gage, will receive its second performance one night only at the Catherine Cummings Theatre, 22 Lincklaen St, Cazenovia NY, on Friday, July 20, at 7:30 pm.
Finger Lakes Times Strikes Again - With an Article
June 27, 2018
The Finger Lakes Times, the area's premier regional newspaper, spotlighted the Ingersoll Museum's 25th anniversary season with a full-length article.
Ingersoll Museum's 25th Season Noticed in Finger Lakes Times
May 23, 2018
The Finger Lakes Times covered the silver anniversary of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum.
Museum Receives Extremely Rare Broadside Poster
April 16, 2018
The Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum (a co-anchor of the Freethought Trail) received an extremely rare, oversized (69" x 36") broadside poster from 1876 excerpting an Ingersoll speech.
Ingersoll Museum Silver Anniversary Conference: Registration Now Open
April 9, 2018
Online registration is now available for the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum's Silver Anniversary Conference / Tour Event.
2018 Ingersoll Museum newsletter is online
April 4, 2018
The 2018 edition of Ingersoll Report, the annual newsletter of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum, is now available online.
NY Cultural Heritage Tourism Network Expands Into Western New York!
April 2, 2018
The New York Cultural Heritage Tourism Network (NYCHTN) will reach out to cultural heritage tourism institutions in WNY with a networking meeting in the greater Buffalo area.
Trail Member News
April 2, 2018
Historian Norman K. Dann debuts new book on Peter Smith, founder of Peterboro and the father of reformer Gerrit Smith.
Presenting the 'Radically' Redesigned Freethought Trail Website
March 15, 2018
The "soft open" is over. The newly redesigned Freethought Trail website is now live.
Welcome to the all-new Freethought Trail!
February 7, 2018
Notice anything different? The Freethought Trail has been completely redesigned, and you are among the first to discover it.