Open Mausoleum Door

A gift certificate to 'spend the day together' from Morrison's twelve-year-old niece prompted a visit to explore Oakhill Cemetery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the pair encountered a mausoleum with a mystery. Morrison's resulting research became an obsession that spanned a decade. Ultimately the doors of the mausoleum opened for her, literally and figuratively, illuminating a one-hundred-year-old family tragedy, an architectural legacy, a city's history, and her own place in her community. Jennifer Morrison is the associate archivist for the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was previously the Aquinas College archivist and also spent fifteen years in the local history department of the Grand Rapids Public Library. Her career has involved working in museums and historic sites as well as archives, freelancing, giving public presentations, and, at least early on, spending time dipping candles for tourists in a long dress her mom made.