Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Environmental Leader and Innovator | Page 17

People and Happenings
Roberto Mighty and IMLS
In August 2013, the Frie nds was awarde d a
$92,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS) for a two-year project to catalog, photo-
graph, and assess the Cemetery’s Significant Monuments
Collection and fine arts statuary in order to create a baseline
for preservation. The project also includes research and
digitization of related archival collections. The final outcome
will include a workshop for peers, an online exhibition,
and a short film documenting conservation of one of
Mount Auburn’s most significant and threatened memorials:
the Amos Binney Monument sculpted by noted American
artist Thomas Crawford in 1847.
As part of the project, Mount Auburn has engaged new
media artist, filmmaker, photographer, and sound designer
Roberto Mighty as our first artist-in-residence. Roberto
is Adjunct Professor at Emerson College’s Department of
Visual and Media Arts and also an Instructor in the Jour-
nalism Department at Boston University’s College of
Communication. He was Artist-in-Residence at Harvard
Forest 2011-12, where he created an immersive multimedia
exhibit for Harvard’s Fisher Museum entitled “First Con-
tact: Puritans, Native Americans and the Clash Over Land
in 1630.” In 2013, his exhibits, installations, projects and
film screenings included “Cloud Lightning” at the National
Science Foundation in Reston, VA; “Descent” at the Lesley
University Brattle Gallery in Cambridge, MA; and “Trees of
My City” at the Scandinavian Cultural Center in Newton,
MA. All of Roberto’s work reflects themes of nature, history,
science, spirituality and relationships, making him the perfect
choice to document the conservation of the Binney monu-
ment, and to create a short film about the project
and the monument’s history.
As you explore the grounds this summer, perhaps you
will encounter Roberto while he works on this exciting
project. You can also track his residency at Mount Auburn
by reading the “Artitst In Residence Blog” he’ll be keeping
for the duration of this project: www.mountauburn.org/
ArtistInResidence-RobertoMighty.
Three generations of Kittie
Knox’s relatives, the Towle-
Millett family, attended the
dedication of the monument
to 19th-century cyclist Kittie
T. Knox. Cambridge Vice
Mayor E. Denise Simmons
presided over the event held
on Sunday, September 29,
2013. Kittie Knox is one of
fifteen individuals profiled in
Mount Auburn’s new African
American Heritage Trail.
On September 26, 2013, members of Mount Auburn’s Council of
Visitors attended the second annual full-day meeting at the Cem-
etery. Highlights included a luncheon, break-out sessions, and walk-
ing tours about the many facets of Mount Auburn. A keynote lecture
exam ining Mount Auburn from the Perspective of Environmental
History was delivered by Dr. Aaron Sachs, Associate Professor of
History and American Studies at Cornell University.
Summer 2014 | 15