The Diaries of Francis Ellingwood Abbot

Join us for a talk by Brian A. Sullivan, former senior reference archivist at the Harvard University Archives and archivist of Mount Auburn Cemetery, about his book If Ever Two Were One: A Private Diary of Love Eternal kept by Francis Ellingwood Abbot, 1855-1903 featuring the voluminous, heartfelt journals of a diarist with deep Beverly connections. Abbot, a Harvard College graduate in 1859 and philosopher, took his life in Central Cemetery at the grave of his wife, Katie Loring Abbot, ten years to the day after her death in October, 1903. Photograph below taken by Darren Brown, November, 2013.  The card reads, “Happy Birthday Dearest Katie, You are still loved.”