Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Expanding our Educational Outreach

President’s Corner A publication of the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery President’s Corner 580 Mount Auburn Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-547-7105 www.mountauburn.org This issue of Sweet Auburn is largely devoted to the theme of education at Mount Auburn which, as a still-functioning cemetery that is also an historic landscape, of- fers so many opportunities for learning. And it has done so since its very beginnings. Blanche Linden, in the revised and redesigned edition of Silent City on a Hill: Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery (now available at the Cemetery with a discount for Friends members), describes how Mount Auburn’s founders intended that it would inspire the living as well as bury the dead. While they did not talk specifically of “edu- cation,” they did hope that the monuments and landscape would prompt visitors to reflect on history, mortality and the need to honor the heroes of the new republic. Indeed commemoration can be seen as a form of education. In his consecration address of September 24,1831, now more than 176 years ago, Justice Joseph Story enumerated the many ways in which the new cemetery would instruct the living. In its many subsequent decades the Cemetery’s visitors Bill Clendaniel have learned from and been inspired by the stories of those resting here, the horticulture so beautifully arrayed across its topography, and the art and architecture of three centuries, both public and private, distributed throughout the grounds. Editorial Committee Priscilla P. Morris, Editor Vice President of Development Stephen H. Anable, Managing Editor Communications Coordinator & Writer William C. Clendaniel, Contributing Editor Trustee & President, Mount Auburn Cemetery Candace Currie Director of Planning & Cemetery Development Bree Detamore Harvey Director of Education & Visitor Services Jennifer J. Johnston, Photo Editor Development Technical Assistant & Photographer Brian A. Sullivan Archivist Margaret L. Winslow Curator of Historical Collections Designer Elizabeth Bonadies Printer P+R Publications Cover: Sixth graders from the Atrium School, Watertown, MA, took a field trip to Mount Auburn in October 2007, to study the effects of acid rain and snow on marble momuments. Photo by Jennifer Johnston Trustees of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mary Lee Aldrich, Cambridge, MA Clemmie Cash, Chair, Wellesley, MA William C. Clendaniel, Boston Thomas C. Cooper, Watertown, MA Caroline Loughlin, Weston, MA Sean McDonnell, Cambridge Caroline Mortimer, Cambridge Ann M. Roosevelt, Cambridge With the founding of the Friends in 1986, the Cemetery became more inten- tional about emphasizing education as part of its mission, gradually increasing the ways it shares knowledge of this place with visitors, clients, and researchers. Most of our programs are on-site, but in the just completed 175th Anniversary year we reached a larger and more diverse public through our many off-site events and through our website. This winter we will open the long-awaited Visitors Center, which will further expand our educational outreach, and we are also increasing our efforts to share information about the many services that Mount Auburn offers to those who have lost a loved one—finding a final resting-place, arranging a burial and/or crema- tion, planning a funeral or memorial service, and designing a monument. And, as Mount Auburn did during the 19th century, we continue to share knowledge with professional colleagues, from the Boston area, around the country, even, from the other side of the world. Honorary Trustee of the Friends Susan W. Paine, Cambridge The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery was established in 1986 to assist in the conservation of the Cemetery’s natural beauty and to promote the appreciation of its cultural, historic and natural resources. Organized in 1990 as a 501(c)3 non- profit charitable trust, the Friends seeks financial support from its members, other individuals, foundations, corporations and public agencies. It receives gifts for educational and interpretive programs and materials for the public, specific cultural projects, and operating support for horticultural rejuvenation and the preservation of the historic monuments, structures, and archival artifacts and records. The Friends has over 1,200 active members. 2 | Sweet Auburn William C. Clendaniel, President pg. 1 pg. 11 pg. 14 Sweet Auburn

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