Council of Visitors
People and Happenings
Grant News
Council of Visitors
Mount Auburn ’ s Council of Visitors held its fifth annual meeting on Thursday , October 13 , 2016 . Founded in 2011 the Council is comprised of Cemetery friends including community members and leaders in horticulture , historic preservation , educational programming and landscape enhancement , who support the Cemetery in accomplishing its mission of inspiring all who visit , comforting the bereaved , and commemorating the dead in a landscape of exceptional beauty . This year over 40 members joined President Dave Barnett for a tour of recent landscape projects in the historic core of the Cemetery , and over 100 members attended the keynote presentation by Fergus Garrett , Head Gardener & Chief Executive of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust .
People and Happenings
Scientist and public transit professional Lindsay Yazzolino visited Mount Auburn as part of project she is doing with painter Nate Miner . Blind since birth , Lindsay says that she seeks to encourage other blind individuals to pursue science careers , as well as to increase the exchange of knowledge and ideas between the scientific and blind communities . She has spoken to numerous groups to discuss her work , and to reverse common misconceptions about blindness by emphasizing that blind people can live independent and personally fulfilling lives . At Mount Auburn , Lindsay examined the stones , monuments and trees , and talked to staff about ways to engage the blind community through specialized tours . Lindsay said that one of the highlights of the tour was “ checking out Buckminster Fuller ’ s stone with its “ buckyball ” inscription !”
photo by Eric Hyatt
photo by Nate Miner
Grant News
The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery is delighted to have received grants from the Felicia Fund and the Mildred Cambridge Memorial Fund , as well as an individual gift , to support the conservation of the Maria Frances Coppenhagen Monument , widely regarded as one of the most significant works of 19th-century funerary art on our grounds and in urgent need of conservation treatment . Known as the Coppenhagen Angel , the portrait sculpture is a beautiful example of high style Gilded Age funerary art by Martin Milmore , one of Boston ’ s leading artists of the time .
The Friends has received several grants in support of its plant collections . A grant of $ 32,500 from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust is supporting the development of a software connector that will improve Mount Auburn ’ s plant mapping and field-inventory operations . A $ 23,978 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services ( IMLS ) Museums for America Program ( MA-31-16- 0028-16 ) will support consultant Brian Morgan , of the Alliance for Public Gardens GIS , and an intern who , under the supervision of Mount Auburn staff , will conduct a comprehensive cataloguing and mapping of 100 % of the horticultural collections in a five-acre area surrounding Washington Tower .
A $ 2,500 grant from the William P . Wharton Trust , as well as an individual gift , will support Mount Auburn ’ s Citizen Science Program .
FOMAC has received a $ 10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities . The grant ( PY-253094 ), will support a project entitle “ Preserving Community Memories ,” and include two community digitization days in Watertown and Cambridge , which will aid in the discovery and digitization of a range of archival cultural heritage materials held by the public that help to tell the story of Mount Auburn Cemetery . The digitization days will be complemented by associated public programming and content creation for Mount Auburn ’ s new mobile app .
We are grateful for operating support grants from the Edwin S . Webster Foundation , Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Roy A . Hunt Foundation .
2017 Volume 1 | 15