Association for Gravestone Studies

Association for Gravestone Studies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and interpretation of historic gravestones, funerary monuments, and burial landscapes. Founded in 1977, the organization brings together scholars, conservators, archivists, curators, preservationists, and avocational researchers to study material culture associated with death and commemoration. Its work intersects with historic preservation, cultural heritage, and landscape studies in contexts ranging from colonial New England to Victorian cemeteries and modern memorial parks.

History

The organization was founded amid rising public interest following preservation efforts at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, Massachusetts), inventories associated with the National Register of Historic Places, and scholarly attention from figures linked to Smithsonian Institution, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and Historic New England. Early leadership included practitioners with ties to Winterthur Museum, Yale University, and the Library of Congress who navigated grant programs from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Park Service. The group's archival initiatives drew on precedents such as surveys used by the Historic American Buildings Survey and methodologies promoted at conferences hosted by American Folklore Society and Society for American Archaeology.

Mission and Activities

The organization's mission emphasizes documentation, conservation, interpretation, and education related to funerary monuments in contexts including Puritan New England, Antebellum South, Victorian Britain, and transatlantic migrations linked to Ellis Island. Activities include training workshops that adopt conservation standards influenced by documents from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, fieldwork that complements inventories by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and collaboration with museums such as Peabody Essex Museum and New-York Historical Society. Outreach programs have partnered with institutions like Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Green-Wood Cemetery, and university departments at University of Massachusetts Amherst and Rutgers University.

Publications and Research

The association publishes peer-reviewed and popular materials that document gravestone iconography, maker signatures, stonecutters’ networks, and epigraphic studies. Its journal features contributions that reference research traditions at Yale University Press, Oxford University Press, and collections in the American Antiquarian Society. Case studies often engage with scholars affiliated with Brown University, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and archival holdings at the New York Public Library. Research topics have connected with debates explored at the American Historical Association and the Society for Historical Archaeology, and cite conservation practices promoted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the American Institute for Conservation.

Conferences and Events

Annual conferences attract presenters from institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, Winterthur Museum, Historic New England, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, Massachusetts), and international partners including Imperial War Museums and English Heritage. Sessions have included workshops on stone identification drawing on comparative collections at British Museum, digital mapping collaborations with projects housed at University College London, and methodological panels featuring members from University of Glasgow and Trinity College Dublin. The organization has held symposia in cities with prominent cemeteries such as Boston, Philadelphia, New Haven, Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.

Regional Chapters and Affiliates

Regional chapters and affiliated groups collaborate with state and local agencies including the Massachusetts Historical Commission, Connecticut Historical Society, Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, and county historical societies like the Essex Institute and the New-York Historical Society. International affiliates maintain ties with organizations such as English Heritage, National Museums Liverpool, and university departments at University of St Andrews and University of Toronto. Local cemetery friends groups, municipal preservation offices, and nonprofits such as Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery and the Green-Wood Cemetery Conservancy often co-sponsor surveys, lectures, and conservation projects.

Category:Historic preservation organizations Category:Archaeological organizations