The Aja Cooley-Love “Fountain of Youth”, Undated

The Woodland Cemetery Collection consists primarily of materials that detail the history of the Woodland Cemetery Association of Dayton, Ohio. There are a variety of meeting minutes both from internal organizational meetings (i.e. WCA board meetings) and external organizational meetings (i.e. professional organization conference meetings). In addition to meeting minutes, there are an abundance of interment and cremation records. These records indicate a person’s date of birth, date of death, place of death, as well as the date of interment/cremation. The interment records also often include the location of the interred person. The other records help to complete the history of Woodland Cemetery.

Series I, Correspondence, consists of letters written Woodland Cemetery or employees of Woodland Cemetery. There are business letters and personal letters. The letters cover a variety of topics, such as concerns over lots, cremation, interment, plants and animals, and monuments. The correspondence is organized primarily according to date.

Series II, Historical Records, is divided into four subseries. Subseries IIA, General Records, consists of records about the history of Woodland Cemetery and the Woodland Cemetery Association including rules and regulations of the cemetery, meeting minutes, and newsletters. Subseries IIB, Mausoleum Records, consists of information about the construction of the mausoleum at Woodland. Subseries IIC, Arboretum Records, includes materials from arboretum board meetings and tour materials. Subseries IID, Meeting Minutes—Professional Associations, contains minutes from professional organizations that Woodland Cemetery staff attended.

Series III, Financial Records, consists of sales receipts for lots, monuments, and services. Also included in this series are yearly financial reports. Of particular interest may be the balance sheets and account books that indicate pricings and expenditures that the cemetery incurred. Many of the financial records are in large ledgers.

Series IV, Marketing and Sales Administrative Records, is divided into three subseries. Subseries IVA, General Marketing Records, consists of flyers, printed advertisements, and brochures for Woodland Cemetery. There are also brochures for other cemeteries and catalogs of products for cemeteries and funeral homes (grave-markers, urns, etc.). Subseries IVB, Sales Team Meeting, Minutes, Plans, consists of materials regarding marketing plans for Woodland Cemetery. Subseries IVC, Rubicon Park, contains materials regarding Woodland’s involvement in the Rubicon Park Business District.

Series V, Interment and Disinterment Records, is divided into five subseries. Subseries VA, Lot Records, contains lot deeds and bury permissions for lots. Subseries VB, Interment Orders, consists of ledgers of interment records. There are several oversized books in this subseries. The records are largely organized chronologically, and several years are further organized alphabetically. Subseries VC, Memorial and Marker Records, consists of purchase agreements for memorials/markers. Subseries VD, Foundation Work Orders, consists of work orders that are arranged chronologically and alphabetically according to the customer who ordered the foundation work. Subseries VE, Burial-Transit Permits, are organized chronologically and consist of records regarding body-movement.

Series VI, Cremation Records, consists of records regarding cremations performed at Woodland Cemetery. Included in this series are infant cremation records from Miami Valley Hospital. The cremation records are organized according to year and then alphabetically.

Series VII, Photographs, consists of photographs and negatives of Woodland Cemetery. There are photographs of people and events at Woodland as well as animals, plants, and monuments. Some of the monument photographs are labeled. There are photographs of the Wright family marker and the Paul Laurence Dunbar monument. The negatives that are a part of this series are not organized. There are also slides that are not organized. In this series are photographs that were entries in the annual Woodland Cemetery photography contest. These are organized according to the division of the entry. Division A was for photographers aged 18 and under; Division B is for photographers 19 and older. Many of the contest photos are oversized.