Mount Auburn Biographies
Examine our archive of biographical sketches to learn more about some of those remembered at Mount Auburn who helped to shape our community.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Note: this list is alphabetized by first name
- Adina E. White (1861? – 1930)
Artist, Businesswoman, and Local Philanthropist Continue reading - Amos Binney (1803 – 1847)
Physician and Naturalist Continue reading - Amy Lowell (1874 – 1925)
Poet, Pulitzer Prize Winner Continue reading - Anne Revere (1903-1990)
Actress, Oscar Winner Continue reading - Anne Whitney (1821-1915)
Poet and Sculptor Continue reading - Arthur Foote (1853-1937)
Composer Continue reading - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917-2007)
Historian and Author, Pulitzer Prize Winner Continue reading - Asa Gray (1810-1888)
Botanist Continue reading - Asher Benjamin (1773-1845)
Architect Continue reading - B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Behavioral Psychologist Continue reading - Benjamin C. Thompson (1918 – 2002)
Architect Continue reading - Benjamin Franklin Roberts (1814 – 1887)
Publisher, Editor, and Abolitionist Continue reading - Bernard Malamud (1914-1986)
Author, Pulitzer Prize Winner Continue reading - Caroline Keller Loughlin (1940 – 2013)
Landscape Historian, Mount Auburn Cemetery Trustee Continue reading - Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844)
Architect Continue reading - Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944)
Illustrator and Creator of the “Gibson Girl” Continue reading - Charles Eliot (1859-1897)
Chemist and Harvard President Continue reading - Charles Mason Hovey (1810 – 1887)
Horticulturist Continue reading - Charles Russell Lowell (1835-1864)
Civil War Colonel Continue reading - Charles Sumner (1811-1874)
US Senator and Abolitionist Continue reading - Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876)
Actor Continue reading - Clara Endicott Sears (1863-1960)
Preservationist, Historian, and Author Continue reading - Clement Morgan (1859 – 1929)
Lawyer, Local Politician, and Founder of the NAACP Continue reading - Commemorating Simon Antranighian
Memorializing local heritage: creating a monument for Mount Auburn’s first Armenian resident Mount Auburn is working with a group of Armenian history and culture … Continue reading - Curt Gowdy (1919-2006)
“The Voice” of American Sports Continue reading - Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
Reformer and Mental Health Advocate Continue reading - E. Power Biggs (1906-1977)
Organist Continue reading - Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney (1824 -1904)
Writer, Philosopher, and Reformer Continue reading - Edward Everett (1794-1865)
Congressman, Massachusetts Governor, Ambassador, and Harvard President Continue reading - Edwin Booth (1833-1893)
Actor, Founder of the Player’s Club Continue reading - Edwin Land (1909-1991)
Inventor, Photography Pioneer, and Founder of Polaroid Continue reading - Eileen F. (Aries) Janiak (1948-2012)
Mount Auburn Staff Member Continue reading - Eleanor Porter (1868 – 1920)
Author of “Pollyanna” Continue reading - Eleanor Raymond (1887 – 1989)
Architect Continue reading - Elizabeth Cary Agassiz (1822-1907)
Founder of Radcliffe College Continue reading - Emily Elizabeth Parsons (1824 – 1880)
Nurse, Founder of Mount Auburn Hospital Continue reading - Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857-1915)
Cookbook Author Continue reading - Fanny Fern (1811 – 1872)
Author and Journalist Continue reading - Fanny Parnell (1848-1882)
“Irish Poet and Patriot” Continue reading - Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965)
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Continue reading - Francis Parkman (1823 – 1893)
Historian and Horticulturist Continue reading - Frank William Taussig (1859-1940)
Economist Continue reading - Frederic Ward Putnam (1839 – 1915)
Anthropologist and Archaeologist Continue reading
- A Good Neighbor: John Chipman Gray the Elder
By Karen Falb Mount Auburn Cemetery and the nearby Larchwood Neighborhood (Fig. 1) have a history going back to the Cemetery’s founding in 1831. At … Continue reading - George Angell (1823-1909)
Humanitarian, Founder of the MSPCA Continue reading - George Lewis Ruffin (1834 – 1886)
Lawyer and Judge Originally from Virginia, George Ruffin was the eldest son of free Black parents. His family moved to Boston in response to a … Continue reading - George Whitefield Chadwick (1854 – 1931)
Composer, Conductor, and Educator Continue reading - Gertrude Wright Morgan (1861 – 1931)
Civil Rights Activist, Founding Member of the NAACP Continue reading - Gyorgy Kepes (1906 – 2001)
Founder of MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies Continue reading - Harold E. Edgerton (1903-1990)
Stroboscopic Photography Pioneer Continue reading - Harriet Hosmer (1830-1908)
Sculptor Continue reading - Harriet Jacobs (1813 – 1897)
Author, Abolitionist, Freedom Seeker Continue reading - Harrison Gray Otis (1765-1848)
Boston Mayor Continue reading - Helen Brooke Taussig (1898 – 1986)
Pediatric Cardiologist Continue reading - Henry Cabot Lodge (1850 – 1924)
U.S. Senator Continue reading - Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902-1985)
Politician and Ambassador Continue reading - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Poet Continue reading - Horatio Greenough (1805 – 1852)
Sculptor Continue reading - Hosea Ballou (1771-1852)
Universalist Minister Continue reading - I. F. (“Izzy”) Stone (1907-1989)
Investigative Reporter, Journalist, and Publisher Continue reading - Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924)
Art Collector and Museum Founder Continue reading - Jacob Bigelow (1787-1879)
Physician, Mount Auburn Cemetery President Continue reading - James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)
Poet, Editor, and Diplomat Continue reading - James Thomas Fields (1816/7-1881)
Publisher, Editor, and Author Continue reading - Jared Sparks (1789-1866)
Historian, Writer, and Harvard President Continue reading - Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873)
Geologist and Zoologist Continue reading - Johann Spurzheim (1776 – 1832)
Phrenologist Continue reading - John B. Rawls (1921-2002)
Moral and Political Philosopher Continue reading - John Bartlett (1820-1905)
Publisher of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” Continue reading - John Murray (1741 – 1815)
Founder of Universalism in America Continue reading - John Perkins Cushing (1787 – 1862)
Merchant and Philanthropist Continue reading - John Simmons (1796-1870)
Businessman, Philanthropist, Founder of Simmons College Continue reading - Joseph Story (1779-1845)
US Supreme Court Associate Justice, Mount Auburn Cemetery President Continue reading - Josephine Ruffin (1842-1924)
Journalist, Publisher, and Civil Rights Leader Continue reading - Joshua Bowen Smith (1813 – 1879)
Caterer and Underground Railroad Conductor Continue reading - Joyce Chen (1917 – 1994)
Celebrated Restaurateur, Cookbook Author, Culinary Television Personality, and Entrepreneur Continue reading - Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
Suffragist, Author of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” Continue reading - Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898 – 1979)
Physicist and Inventor of “Invisible Glass” Continue reading - Kittie Knox (1874 – 1900)
A Pioneering Cyclist In a previously unmarked grave on Vesper Path lie the remains of Kittie T. Knox, born in 1874. Knox’s mother, Katherine Towle, … Continue reading - Lemuel Shaw (1781-1861)
Jurist Continue reading - Lois Lilley Howe (1864-1964)
Architect Continue reading - Ludlow Griscom (1890-1958)
Ornithologist, “Dean of the Birdwatchers” Continue reading - Mabel Wheeler Daniels (1877-1971)
Composer and Musician Continue reading - Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1810-1850)
Author and Transcendentalist Continue reading - Marguerite LeHand (1896 – 1944)
Personal Secretary to FDR Continue reading - Maria Richards Oakey Dewing
Artist Continue reading - Maria White Lowell (1821 – 1853)
Poet Continue reading - Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)
Author, Publisher, and Discoverer of Christian Science Continue reading - Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (1820 – 1894)
Philanthropist Continue reading - Mary Walker (1818 – 1873)
Freedom Seeker, Seamstress, and Caretaker Mary Walker began her life enslaved in North Carolina, where she lived on the large plantation of Duncan Cameron. Walker … Continue reading - Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
Psychologist and Philosopher Continue reading - Maud Morgan (1903 – 1999)
Contemporary Artist Continue reading - Minor White (1908 – 1976)
Photographer and Teacher Continue reading - Morrill Wyman (1812 – 1903)
Physician Continue reading - Myrtle Hart (1874 – 1966)
Harpist Continue reading
- Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
Mathematician and Astronomer Continue reading - Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867)
Poet, Editor, and Publisher Continue reading - Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 – 1894)
Physician, Poet, and Author Continue reading - Peter Bent Brigham (1807-1877)
Restaurateur and Philanthropist Continue reading - Peter Byus (1800 – 1867)
Tailor and Freedom Seeker Continue reading - Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
Rector of Trinity Church, Episcopalian Bishop, and Author “O Little Town of Bethlehem” Continue reading - R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
Inventor, Designer, and Visionary Continue reading - Richard Henry Dana III (1851-1931)
Lawyer and Reformer Continue reading - Robert Creeley (1926 – 2005)
Poet Continue reading - Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 – 1876)
Revolutionary, Reformer, and Educator Continue reading - Svetlana Boym (1959-2015)
Novelist, Playwright, Cultural Critic, and New Media Artist Continue reading - Theodore Thomas (1835 – 1905)
Conductor Continue reading - Theodore William Richards (1868 – 1928)
Chemist, Nobel Prize Recipient Continue reading - Thomas Cass (1821 – 1862)
Civil War General Continue reading - Thomas Gold Appleton (1812-1884)
Art Patron and Collector Continue reading - Thomas H. Perkins (1764 – 1854)
Merchant and Philanthropist Continue reading - Thomas Whittemore (1871–1950)
Art Historian, Archaeologist, and Byzantine Scholar Continue reading - Timothy Fuller (1778 – 1835)
Lawyer and Legislator Continue reading
- Walter Hunnewell (1917 – 1999)
Businessman and Patron of Horticulture Continue reading - William Alfred (1922 – 1999)
Playwright and Poet Continue reading - William Barton Rogers (1804-1882)
MIT Founder Continue reading - William Brewster (1851-1919)
Ornithologist Continue reading - William Ellery Channing (1780 – 1842)
Unitarian Minister and Social Reformer Continue reading - William F. Harnden (1812 – 1845)
Express Industry Pioneer Continue reading - William Henry Lewis (1868-1949)
All-American Football Player and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Continue reading - Williamina Fleming (1857 – 1911)
Astronomer Continue reading - Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
Artist Continue reading
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