Housed in a musty Greek Revival mansion, the Cayuga Museum (203 Genesee St., 315/253-8051, noon–5 p.m. Tues.– Sun. Feb.–Dec., suggested donation $3) is devoted to local history. Exhibits cover early Native American culture, the Civil War, the Auburn Correctional Facility, Millard Fillmore, and women’s rights.
Behind the museum mansion stands a simple, low-slung building known as the Case Research Lab (noon–4:30 p.m. Tues.– Sun. Feb.–Dec.). Here, in 1923, Theodore W. Case and E. I. Sponable invented the first commercially successful sound film, ushering in the movie era.
Displays include the first sound camera and projector, original lab equipment, and Case’s correspondence with Thomas Edison and Lee De Forest, a self-promoter who claimed he was the inventor of sound film.