16 January 2015

Hart Island -- NYC’s Public Burial Ground -- Over 1 Million Burials -- Trying to Reveal Their Stories



Last year, in Upfront with NGS Mini Bytes, we had a brief blurb about Hart Island ...

Hart Island is NYC’s Public Burial Ground and the Department of Correction has created a database of Hart Island Burial Records. You can search on name, age, date of death, place of death (e.g., which hospital), etc.

I was reminded of this cemetery when a new online interactive project was announced last month, New York's forgotten finally remembered: Forbidden island where over one million 'unknown' people are buried in a mass grave reveals its secrets in online database.  This article is full of images from the facility and there is a video on the page (here’s a link to it) you will want to watch which talks a bit about the island and its history, the lack of access to the island, and The Hart Island Project with its The Traveling Cloud Museum telling the stories of some who are buried there.

Giving voices to those who can no longer (or ever could) is a large part of what we do as family historians.  We also desire the ability to show our respect for our deceased family members by visiting where they are buried – hopefully, someday, that might be true for those who have family buried on Hart Island.

Do you know of other public burial locations where visitors are not allowed?






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to [email protected]. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

No comments:

Post a Comment