Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More
A landscape of a split pathway, covered by trees. A few figures can be seen walking.
Mount Auburn (1861). (Photo: Flickr/Internet Archive Book Images)

First large modern cemetery built.

Date: 1831

DDD
PH
Mount Auburn (1861). (Photo: Flickr/Internet Archive Book Images)

Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts initiates the rural cemetery movement. Cemeteries become seen as parks and memorial grounds–places to be protected. Burial in these cemeteries is initially limited to wealthy communities. This movement is a response to the grave robbing of the previous generation, as well as to new public health interests in keeping decaying bodies away from living communities.