This project will show how open-source database, mapping, and visualization applications can be combined to benefit research, site management, and public presentation at historic cemeteries and burial grounds. In partnership with Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, I will use a sample dataset of burials that were conducted there in July of 1863. The result will be a proof-of-concept database and related visualizations that illuminate the lives and the historical context of the individuals buried at Green-Wood. My greater goal is to demonstrate this method’s potential to enhance research, management, and public engagement around these meaningful cultural spaces. Such tools would be particularly beneficial for individual researchers and organizations documenting small sites that have been abandoned or overlooked for reasons including municipal expansion, cultural bias, and changes over time to the surrounding community—or, as is often the case, a combination of these factors.

A comprehensive database with a metadata schema tailored to cemetery research is at the heart of this project. By utilizing standardized methods of documentation and analysis that may be easily adopted by others, I hope to show how data organized in this way can be a versatile foundation for historical research, education, and presentation—which, in turn, can generate community interest, advocacy, and financial support to maintain the integrity of these sites.

Once complete, the project’s database structure and documentation will be posted on GitHub and available for reuse and adaptation to serve the preservation and public engagement efforts of others working with historic cemeteries and burial grounds.