Historical Collections & Archives
Quick Links
Overview
Mount Auburn is one of the few cemeteries in the country to have preserved and cared for its records since its founding in 1831.
Our collections document the beginnings of the rural cemetery movement, the evolution of landscape design and urban green space, and almost two centuries of commemorative art and architecture.
In addition to the records of people buried and remembered here, the collections include our founding records, correspondence with families and businesses through time, photographs, prints, fine art, ephemera, and maps and plans.
Research Requests
We welcome research requests from all over the world about Mount Auburn’s history, landscape, art, architecture, and people buried and remembered here. We invite families, lot and grave owners, friends of Mount Auburn, educators, students, authors, and the public to research our collections and discover our stories.
Explore Our Collections
We encourage researchers to explore Mount Auburn’s online collections. They include a wide range of images such as historical stereographs and cabinet cards, engravings, and photographs that document the Cemetery in all seasons, including trees, horticulture, monuments, and people.
Help Us Transcribe!
Whether you transcribe only a few pages or volume upon volume, your contribution will help preserve our history for generations to come. Learn more about our founding records project and join our global community of transcribing volunteers!
Did You Know?
Every year, more than 400 researchers from around the world—colleagues, designers, historians, biographers, genealogists, preservationists, curators, writers, publishers, teachers, filmmakers, artists, poets, and individuals with family members buried at the Cemetery—access our resources.
Publications include Arcadian America by Aaron Sachs (2013); This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust (2008); The Escher Twist by Jane Langton (2002); Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America by Stephen Prothero (2001); and Fresh Pond: The History of a Cambridge Landscape by Jill Sinclair(2009); Harriet Jacobs: A Life, by Jean Fagan Yellin (2004); and many more.
A selected bibliography of books and articles about Mount Auburn Cemetery.