TRANSIENT BEAUTY
Documenting Mount Auburn ’ s Transient Natural Beauty sweet auburn | 2024 volume i
By Meg L . Winslow Curator of Historical Collections & Archives
ount Auburn ’ s evolving landscape provides a valuable opportunity
M for our community to become involved in environmental research , environmental monitoring , and citizen science projects . Mount
Auburn ’ s Historical Collections & Archives cares for staff contributions to the Cemetery ’ s sustainability efforts and documents pertaining to our evolving landscape that date back to 1831 .
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries , civil engineers , surveyors , and other staff working on the Cemetery grounds carried Field Books : small pocket-sized books measuring 4 x 6 inches , that they would use to record measurements and gather data for the office . They regularly noted their observations about the weather . One entry reads : 1885 Sep 17 . 4:20 pm . Most sunset . Sun does not shine on the lot but does in some other places . Not a cloud in the sky . ( Today you can find the current weather on the Mount Auburn Cemetery website , using data from the weather station on top of the Operations Center building maintained by Mount Auburn ’ s volunteer Citizen Science Naturalist program .)
Above , right : Meg Winslow , Curator of Historical Collection and Archives during an Open Archives event Above : Excerpt from 6,000 Dandelions by Ben Denzer
residents are household literary names such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ( Indian Ridge Path ), Oliver Wendell Holmes ( Lime Avenue ), and James Russell Lowell ( Fountain Avenue ), but also many less well-known poets : Mary White Lowell ( Fountain Avenue ), John Ciardi ( Story Chapel Columbarium ), Fanny Parnell ( Violet Path ), and Anne Whitney ( Thistle Path ), among others . On February 24 , 2024 , the Cemetery , in partnership with the Longfellow House-Washington Headquarters National Historic Site nearby on Brattle Street , hosted a marathon reading of Longfellow ’ s epic poem “ Evangeline ,” followed by cake to celebrate the poet ’ s birthday . A wreath is laid at Longfellow ’ s grave every year on his birthday , February 27 .
Several writers have been among the Artists-in-Residence ( AIR ) at Mount Auburn , where they receive support grants of $ 500 to $ 5,000 for a year ’ s interaction with the Cemetery . In 2023 , poet Carolyn Oliver used her time as an AIR to explore themes of friendship and community inspired by the Cemetery ( see page 20 .)
The Field Book collection includes information about specific lots : dimensions , number of monuments , names on the monuments , some inscriptions , and condition assessments , as well as notes on curbing , steps , fences , and occasional references to plants and trees .
A smaller group of Field Books fall into three categories : 1 . surveys for future lot and path / avenue layout ; 2 . documentation of water systems : hydrants , drainage , cesspools , reservoirs , lakes , and ponds ;
3 . notes on buildings and structures : greenhouses , work sheds , administrative buildings , and chapels . As archivists and memory workers , we are deeply interested in how information is catalogued and preserved . So is the artist , designer , and publisher Ben Denzer , who was one of the recent artists-in-residence at Mount Auburn .
In 2021 , Ben created an original project based on his experience at the
Cemetery : I wanted to make a book that holds and preserves – memorializes in a sense – some of the transient natural beauty that happens every year at Mount Auburn . His book , titled “ 6,000 dandelions ,” contains pressed dandelion flowers that he foraged among the graves in early spring . Ben ’ s book of bright yellow flowers shows us a faster cycle of life and death than our own , but one that is equally profound .
Gathering together with our resident poets and their admirers is one more way of forging connections among our neighbors and friends .
We can close with “ A Gift ,” one of Lowell ’ s tributes to her lover Ada :
See ! I give myself to you , Beloved ! My words are little jars For you to take and put upon a shelf . Their shapes are quaint and beautiful , And they have many pleasant colours and lustres To recommend them . Also the scent from them fills the room With sweetness of flowers and crushed grasses . When I shall have given you the last one , You will have the whole of me , But I shall be dead .
19 greater beauty