Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn and The Civil War | Page 20

People and Happenings
Volunteer Profile:
Steve Pinkerton
By Jennifer Johnston,
Webmaster, Media & Imaging Coordinator
In the fall of 2010, whe n
Steve Pinkerton retired from a
demanding consulting career
in which, among other things,
he developed renewable and
alternative energy projects, he
sought a volunteer opportunity
that would nourish his interests
in history, genealogy, and
philosophy while utilizing his
background in engineering,
teaching, and research. A
Belmont resident, Steve was
already familiar with Mount
Auburn Cemetery from
years of taking walks here with his wife Vicky. Shortly
after his retirement, he signed up for the spring 2011
docent-training workshop at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Family-history research projects undertaken for himself
and for friends and colleagues had already taken Steve to a
number of cemeteries across the United States, providing
a fantastic “primer” for his future endeavors here at Mount
Auburn. But Steve also brings a scientist’s curiosity and
skepticism to everything he does. As many of us on staff
have come to realize, Steve rarely takes anything at face
value, digging deeper into the crux of every comment or
question posed to him at the Visitor Center, where he takes
a regular Tuesday afternoon shift. His curious nature is also
a great boon for the Historical Collections department,
where he helps to field the many genealogical questions
that come in each week.
Steve has gotten involved in a broad range of projects,
becoming an expert on a variety of topics in his three years
as a volunteer. He has delved into countless mysteries and
conundrums of fact and fiction that have arisen in our
landscape of over 98,000 interments. In the process, he has
become indispensable to other volunteers as well as to staff
and visitors, generously sharing
the data he pulls together.
Among many other projects,
Steve cheerfully took on a
box of nearly 200 unidentified
photos taken at the Cemetery,
quickly tracking down the
location of every monument,
lot, fence, and curb appearing
in the wild assortment of images.
Top: Steve and wife Vicky at Mount
Steve has led numerous
walks, often collaborating with Auburn’s wine-tasting event, August
2011
Mount Auburn staff, other
Bottom: Steve and Dave Barnett,
volunteers, and members of
September 2011.
the larger community on a
variety of topics involving
notable people interred
or memorialized at the
Cemetery—including
architects, African-Americans,
the Banks Brigade Bee,
Civil War figures, merchants,
librarians, culinary figures,
MIT affiliates, and more.
When Steve isn’t at Mount Auburn, he enjoys gardening
and works as a volunteer at the Belmont Victory Gardens.
Steve Pinkerton, fellow volunteer docents and Mount Auburn’s Visitor Services staff gathered for dinner in November 2014.
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