The Dartmouth Cemetery
Also known as the Old Dartmouth Cemetery, the Hanover Cemetery was created when Eleazar Wheelock set aside an acre of level land in the original survey of the village of Hanover in 1771. That land was sequestered by the College Trustees in 1774 “as a burying ground for the use of the College and the inhabitants of this vicinity.” By the 1840s, however, the cemetery had become crowded and had fallen into disrepair. In 1845, Rev. John Richards took it upon himself to form the Dartmouth Cemetery Association with Prof. Brown. For the next 100 years, the Association became the caretaker of the Dartmouth Cemetery. They maintained the fences, nurtured vegetation, and in 1851, built a tomb and hearse house. By 1943, despite careful financial management, the Association had run out of money and people to adequately take care of the cemetery. The trustees dissolved the Association and signed over the rights to it to the Town of Hanover with the stipulation that the “cemetery shall remain perpetually dedicated to the burial of the dead.”
Manuscript Collections
1845 to 2007
This collection contains the Chivers Notebook, a cemetery plot plan with diagrams of lots, along with inscriptions on monuments in each lot; and records of the Hanover Cemetery Association, including meeting minutes 1845-1871 and bylaws 1897-1956. Also contain card indices to internments in the Dartmouth College Cemetery alphabetically arranged, 1948-2007.
William W. Dewey notebooks and sketches (MS-1264)
1860 to 1883
This collection contains Dewey’s Journal List of Deaths in the Vicinity of Dartmouth College, including likewise the hamlet usually called Greensborough from AD 1769 to 1859
Gilman Frost Papers/Genealogical Card File (DH-15)
1926 to 1942
The collection consists of correspondence, notes, charts, census data, and clippings compiled by Dr. Gilman Frost while conducting genealogical research on Hanover, Lyme, and Orford, New Hampshire families. Index cards arranged by family surname, containing birth, death, and marriage data, along with narrative information and notes to sources, relating to Hanover families are also included.
1804 to 1864
The collection consists of letters, essays, poetry, property deeds and epitaphs. Much of the material relates to Asa Risley's work as a stonecutter and maker of tombstones. sketches for gravestone inscriptions for Eleazer Wheelock, Sylvanus Ripley, Mary Brimstead, Mary Woodward, and Levi Newcomb.
Hanover (N.H.) Historical Society records (MS-1207)
1772 to 2008
This collection includes some cemetery records in particular records of the restoration of the Wheelock gravestones and gravestone/Monument conservation reports.
Hanover (N.H.: Town) records (DH-1)
1761 to 1995
This collection includes some cemetery records, including some of the Dartmouth Cemetery Association, and maps/plans of the cemetery.
Dartmouth Medical School, Anatomy Department, records (DA-695)
1934 to 2009
This collection contains material related to the history of the Anatomical Gift Program and included burial permits dating back to 1934 and unsolicited letters from people willing to sell their bodies to the medical school.
Digital Collections
Hanover Cemetery Records
Hanover Cemetery Records | Dartmouth Libraries
Tales of the Old Burying Ground podcast
Tales of the Old Burying Ground | dartmouthcemetery (podbean.com)
Walking Among the Dead narrated PowerPoint tour
"Walking Among the Dead: The Old Dartmouth Cemetery" by Ilana Grallert