Mount Auburn Cemetery Historical Collections & Archives
Welcome to our Online Collections Database
This online catalog allows you to explore Mount Auburn's Historical Collections & Archives. Holdings include a wide range of prints, photographs, books, ephemera, maps, plans, decorative arts, fine art, and more than 3,500 linear feet of archival records. Please note that this digital database represents less than 5% of our cataloged collections.
We encourage you to explore our site and to return often as new records continue to be added. To begin searching, click on the tabs above or the Featured Searches below. Scroll down for Tips for Searching.
Help from Home:
Click Here to Help Transcribe
Join our team of transcribers and help us unearth the secrets held in our collection—from home! Click the link above to transcribe 19th-century documents from our collection. Whether you transcribe only a few pages or volume upon volume, your contribution will help preserve the history of Mount Auburn Cemetery and its importance for generations to come.
Featured Searches:
Bigelow Chapel
Designed in the Gothic Revival Style by Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Bigelow Chapel was built in the 1840s and serves as a venue for public programs, funerals, and memorial services.
Horticulture
Since its founding in 1831, Mount Auburn has created, collected, and preserved documentation of its remarkable horticultural history.
Significant Monuments
Mount Auburn has selected thirty works of funerary art of artistic and historical significance. The memorials represent the aesthetic and commemorative choices of lot owners and sculptors during the Cemetery's formative years.
Tips for Searching
Keyword Search allows you to perform a general search across multiple fields in the online catalog including titles, authors, and subjects. If you are interested in all records about horticulture, for example, type horticulture in the field, and all records that include the word "horticulture" will be listed.
Helpful tips:
- To search a specific phrase like Asa Gray Garden, put quotes around the phrase: "Asa Gray Garden”.
- Use boolean search terms (AND, OR, NOT) to narrow your search. For example, searching Bigelow NOT Chapel will avoid retrieving results related to Bigelow Chapel.
- An asterisk (*) can be used as a wildcard. A search for histor* would come up with records containing history, histories, historical, etc.
- Searches are not case sensitive.
Advanced Search helps you be more specific with your search. You can search for a word or phrase within a particular search category (such as "People" or "Date") or use multiple categories to further narrow down your results. For example, searching Bigelow in the People field will bring up records associated with a member of the Bigelow family, without having to sift through all records for Bigelow Chapel. Phrase searching with quotes and use of wildcards (*) are available in Advanced Search.
Catalog Searches ( Archives / Photos / Library / Objects )
These categories will narrow down your search within a selected catalog. If you only want to search for Photos, click the Photos tab above and type in your keyword(s) or phrase. You can also browse records within that catalog without performing a search. Phrase searching, wildcards (*), as well as AND/OR statements can be used in catalog searches.
Requesting Reproductions / Copies
To request reproductions and copies, go to the catalog record, click the thumbnail photo to enlarge the image, and then select Request Image at the lower right corner. Permission must be granted to use any images from the Cemetery's collections online, in print, or in scholarly publications. Please allow 2-3 weeks to receive these higher resolution files. Fees and additional charges may also apply. Credit all images as Courtesy of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.
Submitting Feedback
Mount Auburn welcomes further information and comments concerning its collections. For feedback regarding a specific item in the collection, click Send Feedback at the top of each catalog record. For general inquires, please contact us by email at research@mountauburn.org.