Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Inspiring All Who Visit | Page 3

Since our founding in 1831, Mount Auburn has been a place of beauty and tranquility
designed to accommodate the burial and commemoration of the deceased while also
providing comfort and inspiration to the living. At the time, this was a bold new concept,
and the huge success of Mount Auburn inspired the Rural Cemetery movement, which
spread rapidly across the country.
In the past year, Mount Auburn’s staff and Trustees have been engaged in a long-term
strategic planning process, and as part of that effort we revisited our mission statement.
We believe that our “core purpose” is still very much what our founders envisioned and
that the new statement reflects this continuity:
“Mount Auburn Cemetery inspires all who visit, comforts the bereaved,
and commemorates the dead in a landscape of exceptional beauty.”
Mount Auburn is today both an active cemetery and a vibrant cultural organization,
and to remain such we must continue to plan for the future and embrace innovation.
The first article in this issue of Sweet Auburn describes a number of ambitious projects
underway near our entrance gates, designed to improve the visitor experience and “inspire
all who visit.”
Throughout this issue you will see examples of how Mount Auburn comforts and inspires its visitors.Voices of the younger generation are heard in essay responses to Mount
Auburn written by Watertown High School students (pp. 4–8). Our Artist-in-Residence
Roberto Mighty (p. 9) and our long-time friend and artist Clare Walker Leslie (pp.
10–11) have opened our eyes to the beauty of the Cemetery landscape in many new
ways, and we are pleased to be increasingly attracting young families to the grounds.
Graduate students from Simmons College work with our fabulous archives every year
under the tutelage of Curator of Historical Collections Meg Winslow, and we hear from
this year’s interns (pp. 12–13).
Finally, this spring we completed the conservation of the monument honoring Dr.
Amos Binney, our most historically significant work of art, with a celebration amid
April’s flowering trees (pp. 15).This project was made possible due to contributed funds,
and we are grateful that so many foundations and individuals continue to be inspired to
support our preservation and landscape improvement efforts.
I hope to see you out in the beautiful Mount Auburn landscape.

photo by Jennifer johnston

President’s Corner

David P Barnett
.
President & CEO

Summer 2015 | 1