Sara Goldberg , Archival consultant
Mount Auburn Archives volunteer , intern , consultant
Newton , MA
PHOTO By meg winslow
I ’ ve been amazed at the dedication and passion that the staff and volunteers in all of the departments bring to their work and at the “ beehive ” of activity that occurs every day at the Cemetery . In the Historical Collections department , we have staff and visitors coming in and out , looking for information ; researchers who are local and from farther away ; as well as colleagues from other historic institutions .
And I ’ ve been astonished at the amount of information and the social history that can be gleaned from the Cemetery ’ s records . It just wasn ’ t something that had crossed my mind before I came to Mount Auburn , and in talking to other students at Simmons , it was clear they had never considered cemetery records as an area of study either . Now , thanks to Brian Sullivan ’ s tours and my speaking in class , there is a lot of interest at Simmons in being an intern in Mount Auburn .
Sara Goldberg ( center ) records the oral history of visitors at Mount Auburn Cemetery ’ s May 2009 Open House .
came to the Historical Collections Department and
I Archives at Mount Auburn in September 2008 , first as a volunteer , then as an intern , through the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science Archives Management concentration . I received my MLS this year ( 2009 ). I completed a 60-hour internship at Mount Auburn , working on the lot correspondence project with Historical Collections Curator Meg Winslow and Archivist Brian Sullivan . We identified historic documents that were at risk because of their fragility and their materials , such as acidic paper . Many of these documents are over 150 years old , and my job was to make them stable and safe to ensure their long-term preservation . Without this type of care , documents on acidic paper will gradually crumble and damage other documents around them . Having completed my internship , I am now working as a consultant with Mount Auburn ’ s Historical Collections , continuing on the historic lot correspondence project .
The Mount Auburn collection is really unique because of its breadth , continuity , and the fact that it ’ s still being used . The Cemetery Services staff accesses the historic correspondence for information about deeds , who owns particular lots , who can legally be buried in certain lots , and the genealogical charts related to all of these issues . When documents end up in most archives , they are not being consulted by people on a daily basis , but here at Mount Auburn they are .
Nathan Fried-Lipski , Photographer Boston
Nathan Fried-Lipski is a photographer and birder who finds subject matter and aesthetic inspiration at Mount Auburn . He thrives on capturing action — of the Boston Celtics shooting a free-throw , the Boston Bruins scoring a goal , or birds in flight at Mount Auburn .
I
’ ve been photographing birds at Mount Auburn for about two years . Before that , I would go on Boston birding websites to see where birders were going . I kept noticing lots of listings for Mount Auburn , so I sort of ventured over there and really enjoyed it .
I like photographing action – anything that ’ s moving and hard to capture . Most of my birding photographs are of birds in motion , in flight . I like the raptors at Mount Auburn , the birds with a big wingspan , like hawks . And the herons are a lot of fun . I enjoy photographing herons while they eat , seeing what they catch .
Mount Auburn is one of the only places in the city where I ’ ve seen owls , which I really like to photograph . There were a couple of great horned owls over on Ivy Path , above Consecration Dell .
Great-blue Heron at Mount Auburn by Nathan Fried-Lipski
Grayce McCreary
6 | Sweet Auburn