About Save Our Cemeteries, Inc.
Save Our Cemeteries,
Inc. (SOC) was founded in 1974 in an effort to prevent the demolition
of nine city blocks of wall vaults surrounding most of the three squares
of St. Louis II. Since 1974, SOC has broadened its focus
from the historic cemeteries of New Orleans to include those of the entire
state of Louisiana. SOC's three tenets are restoration, preservation,
and education. Why save these cemeteries of the old city Commons or of
other residential areas of New Orleans? Because they are, many times,
the earliest remaining sculptural monuments of an area; because early
nineteenth century New Orleans, through above-ground burial, exerted strong
efforts to participate in the international neoclassic movement in cemetery
styles; because much of the tomb and vault architecture is rendered in
a practical, vernacular style found only in New Orleans and south Louisiana;
and because New Orleans has thirty-one historic cemeteries, each differing
from the other, either through the dictates of ethnic or of religious
preferences,
and each lending expression to local customs of reuse and family continuity.
Since its founding, SOC has raised millions of dollars which have been utilized in the city's historic cemeteries. SOC's work has been reported in the local, state, national and foreign media. SOC also has been recognized as a source for accurate historical information, as well as a source of documentation. SOC is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the city's historic cemeteries, but it is also focused on the education of both residents and visitors on the importance of preserving one part of New Orleans' cultural and architectural heritage-its cemeteries. SOC also serves as a resource for those across the state of Louisiana who are interested in preserving their local historic cemeteries.
Research material
generated by SOC is housed at the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC)
in the New Orleans French Quarter. Many projects have been initiated by
SOC to record and document New Orleans' 
historic
cemeteries. SOC has received support and financial assistance from among
others, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana State Historic
Preservation Office, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the
World Monuments Fund, Save Outdoor Sculpture!, the Collins C. Diboll Private
Foundation, Time - Warner, the Azby Fund, the federal government, and
commercial establishments. Hours of volunteer support have been donated
by SOC members, and students from Loyola University, Tulane University,
the University of New Orleans, and Columbia University who have helped
further the research needed to preserve New Orleans' unique heritage.
Through its membership, through programs and newsletters, through its annual fundraising efforts, and through grants and special donations, SOC is an organization dedicated to success and determined to act as a catalyst for cemetery preservation.
For more information, please contact the SOC office, telephone: (504) 525-3377, fax: (504) 525-6677, email: soc@saveourcemeteries.org.
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