The University of Cincinnati (1819) and Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery (1855) have a strong connection over the past 17 decades. Located just a few miles from each other, this urban university and the city’s beautiful garden cemetery share a heritage that includes UC students, faculty, administrators, and benefactors. Our exhibit is a continuing project that documents the relationship between the two institutions through the tombstones of those who made the University of Cincinnati what it is today.
Enoch T. Carson was a Cincinnati businessman who collected widely on the history of Masonry and on William Shakespeare. In 1895, Carson’s Shakespeare collection of over 250 volumes was purchased by William A. Procter, a member of the Board of Directors for the University of Cincinnati. Procter then presented the Shakespeariana to the university, along with two other private libraries he had purchased, to form the founding collections of the UC libraries.
