Allison C. Meier
@allisoncmeier.bsky.social
Writer on art, culture, history & other wonders. Editor at Fine Books & Collections. NYC-based, Oklahoma born. 'Grave' book is out now from Bloomsbury! (she/her)
Tell me your well loved book tales! I’m collecting options for our reader comments in the winter issue.
What is a well-worn book in your collection that may not be in the best condition but that you prize, and why?
November 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Tell me your well loved book tales! I’m collecting options for our reader comments in the winter issue.
Some new reporting on the oldest cave art in North America, climate change & a community that doesn't want to return a human made lake to its natural state because it irrigates a golf course www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/31/p...
Protecting North America’s oldest cave art after an historic flood raised new alarms
Dunbar Cave, home of numerous petroglyphs and pictographs dating back at least 800 years, was submerged by a flood in February—the art was fortunately undamaged, but how can we save it from inevitable...
www.theartnewspaper.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Some new reporting on the oldest cave art in North America, climate change & a community that doesn't want to return a human made lake to its natural state because it irrigates a golf course www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/31/p...
If you want to read all about why cemetery ledgers matter, the people keeping metal type making alive, the joys of collecting well-worn books, medieval fragmentology & much more, pick up the fall issue of @finebooks.bsky.social , edited by me! store.finebooksmagazine.com/autumn-2025/...
September 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM
If you want to read all about why cemetery ledgers matter, the people keeping metal type making alive, the joys of collecting well-worn books, medieval fragmentology & much more, pick up the fall issue of @finebooks.bsky.social , edited by me! store.finebooksmagazine.com/autumn-2025/...
If you want to lift your spirits by having a drink & perusing excellent zines, the Pete's Mini Zine Fest is tomorrow at Pete's Candy Store hosted by Quimby's! I'll be bringing my zines on cemeteries, manhole covers, spirit photography & more. www.instagram.com/p/DOtlLgVEZx...
September 19, 2025 at 7:33 PM
If you want to lift your spirits by having a drink & perusing excellent zines, the Pete's Mini Zine Fest is tomorrow at Pete's Candy Store hosted by Quimby's! I'll be bringing my zines on cemeteries, manhole covers, spirit photography & more. www.instagram.com/p/DOtlLgVEZx...
Delightful surprise to open a Brooklyn Public Library book & find it was once Pete Hamill’s! (And inscribed to him by Max Gordon of the Village Vanguard.) Love that this is just part of the circulating collection.
September 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Delightful surprise to open a Brooklyn Public Library book & find it was once Pete Hamill’s! (And inscribed to him by Max Gordon of the Village Vanguard.) Love that this is just part of the circulating collection.
I don't think Lee Hays has got his due as compost burial pioneer, with his last wishes for his ashes to be mixed with a compost pile. He even wrote a farewell poem about it: "If I should die before I wake, / All my bone and sinew take: / Put them in the compost pile / To decompose a little while.
Lee Hays - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
August 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I don't think Lee Hays has got his due as compost burial pioneer, with his last wishes for his ashes to be mixed with a compost pile. He even wrote a farewell poem about it: "If I should die before I wake, / All my bone and sinew take: / Put them in the compost pile / To decompose a little while.
I remember getting two pitches from this "author" this year & naively responded to the first until there was a weird question about Paypal payments. But I feel like this is only the tip of what most editors are seeing of AI pitches, it's such a waste of time & burying everything else
Wired and Business Insider remove articles by AI-generated ‘freelancer’
At least six publications have taken down articles under the name Margaux Blanchard that were AI-generated
www.theguardian.com
August 26, 2025 at 2:08 PM
I remember getting two pitches from this "author" this year & naively responded to the first until there was a weird question about Paypal payments. But I feel like this is only the tip of what most editors are seeing of AI pitches, it's such a waste of time & burying everything else
Reposted by Allison C. Meier
#SundayReads: For more than half a millennium, the dance of death in European visual art has imagined a tango between the quick and the dead. @AllisonCMeier explores: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/our-mortal-waltz-the-dance-of-death-across-centuries
August 3, 2025 at 11:46 AM
#SundayReads: For more than half a millennium, the dance of death in European visual art has imagined a tango between the quick and the dead. @AllisonCMeier explores: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/our-mortal-waltz-the-dance-of-death-across-centuries
Some new reporting by me on the preservation of Black churches
Efforts to preserve and repair historic US Black churches get $8.5m boost – The National Trust for Historic Preservation is helping 30 congregations shore up their buildings and share their stories, with their communities and the world buff.ly/VfLiejy
August 5, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Some new reporting by me on the preservation of Black churches
Just want to celebrate that the NYPL Performing Arts Library has an incredible offering of album liner notes that you can examine in their research collections! Saved me a lot of time/money tracking things down.
August 4, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Just want to celebrate that the NYPL Performing Arts Library has an incredible offering of album liner notes that you can examine in their research collections! Saved me a lot of time/money tracking things down.
I've spent much of this year on a Folk Art Museum project rethinking biographies for "outsider" artists & I'm proud these are now coming online! It was inspiring in this time of undervaluing human creativity to commune with those who made their own paths collection.folkartmuseum.org/search/meier
Search meier (Artists) – Search – American Folk Art Museum
eMuseum is a powerful web publishing toolkit that integrates seamlessly with TMS to bring dynamic collection content and images to your website, intranet, and kiosks.
collection.folkartmuseum.org
July 11, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I've spent much of this year on a Folk Art Museum project rethinking biographies for "outsider" artists & I'm proud these are now coming online! It was inspiring in this time of undervaluing human creativity to commune with those who made their own paths collection.folkartmuseum.org/search/meier
The summer issue of @finebooks.bsky.social I edited is out, with tales of literary Portugal, people who love endpapers, poisonous books, Route 66 maps & more! Get a copy now in beautiful print www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue
July 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
The summer issue of @finebooks.bsky.social I edited is out, with tales of literary Portugal, people who love endpapers, poisonous books, Route 66 maps & more! Get a copy now in beautiful print www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue
Never not a weird time to promote projects these days but I am proud of this brand new Modernist NYC Map I authored for Blue Crow Media! Has over 50 sites for you to wander actoss the five boroughs bluecrowmedia.com/products/mod...
June 11, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Never not a weird time to promote projects these days but I am proud of this brand new Modernist NYC Map I authored for Blue Crow Media! Has over 50 sites for you to wander actoss the five boroughs bluecrowmedia.com/products/mod...
Did some reporting on very old house news
One of New York City’s oldest houses to open as its neighbourhood’s first museum
The Hendrick I. Lott House in southeast Brooklyn—former home to a family of enslavers will undergo a major preservation and renovation project next year
buff.ly/uuuVmFc
The Hendrick I. Lott House in southeast Brooklyn—former home to a family of enslavers will undergo a major preservation and renovation project next year
buff.ly/uuuVmFc
June 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Did some reporting on very old house news
The Matta-Clark roses are now blooming!
May 17, 2025 at 12:41 PM
The Matta-Clark roses are now blooming!
This Thursday my online deep dive on cemetery symbols begins! We'll discover the ancient rites, memento mori meaning, and often overlooked art of how we express the afterlife on our graves. Join live or on your own time: www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/p/sp...
Speak with the Dead: Understanding Cemetery Symbolism with Cemetery Expert Allison C. Meier, Begins May 8 — Morbid Anatomy
Four week class taught online via Zoom Thursdays, May 8 - 29, 2025 7 - 9 pm ET (NYC time) $125 Paid Patreon Members / $145 General Admission Classes will be recorded and archived for studen...
www.morbidanatomy.org
May 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
This Thursday my online deep dive on cemetery symbols begins! We'll discover the ancient rites, memento mori meaning, and often overlooked art of how we express the afterlife on our graves. Join live or on your own time: www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/p/sp...
Cemetery walk season returns this weekend! I'm leading the spring tree wander at Green-Wood in Brooklyn, hopefully giving time to think about our connections to trees and death www.green-wood.com/event/buds-a...
Buds and Blossoms: A Spring Walk at Green-Wood - Green-Wood
Spring is here, and it’s time to experience Green-Wood’s stunning transformation! The Cemetery bursts into a bouquet of colors as hundreds of flowering trees and plants come to life in a dazzling disp...
www.green-wood.com
April 11, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Cemetery walk season returns this weekend! I'm leading the spring tree wander at Green-Wood in Brooklyn, hopefully giving time to think about our connections to trees and death www.green-wood.com/event/buds-a...
This Saturday night! I'm leaving my home to co-host a storytelling event at Chinatown Soup as part of the Goblin Market. Please join & bring any tales you would like to share of Uncanny Journeys. My zines will also be among the market's wares from March 21-30 www.eventbrite.com/e/goblin-mar...
March 19, 2025 at 7:51 PM
This Saturday night! I'm leaving my home to co-host a storytelling event at Chinatown Soup as part of the Goblin Market. Please join & bring any tales you would like to share of Uncanny Journeys. My zines will also be among the market's wares from March 21-30 www.eventbrite.com/e/goblin-mar...
If you want to join any of my spring cemetery happenings, in person in Brooklyn and Buffalo to talk trees and grave history, and online to talk symbolism, I have a new newsletter for you mailchi.mp/ab8d89c57e2d...
As Winter Fades, Cemetery Events Revive! 👻 🌸
mailchi.mp
March 13, 2025 at 6:52 PM
If you want to join any of my spring cemetery happenings, in person in Brooklyn and Buffalo to talk trees and grave history, and online to talk symbolism, I have a new newsletter for you mailchi.mp/ab8d89c57e2d...
I love a glimpse of the human hand behind marvels!
Found a typo on the BK bridge. As @allisoncmeier.bsky.social pointed out, it was a nice glimpse of humanity on this modern marvel
March 6, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I love a glimpse of the human hand behind marvels!
Made a zine of my photos of guiding angels in Green-Wood Cemetery, looking at how they depict Victorian women & children at a time when pregnancy was not a choice. Selling them for $20 incl. shipping to give the profits to the Roe Fund of Oklahoma, send a DM or reach out allisoncmeier.com/contact/
March 2, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Made a zine of my photos of guiding angels in Green-Wood Cemetery, looking at how they depict Victorian women & children at a time when pregnancy was not a choice. Selling them for $20 incl. shipping to give the profits to the Roe Fund of Oklahoma, send a DM or reach out allisoncmeier.com/contact/
I had not heard that Most Holy Trinity with its distinctive metal markers—a choice to make everyone equal in death—has had a major increase of memorials stolen recently, likely destroyed as scrap. Too many NYC cemeteries have little attention to their care outside of volunteers like this stepping in
When Grave Markers Are Stolen, He Speaks for the Dead
To Michael Hirsch, the desecration of hundreds of graves was a shanda, a shame, a ghoulish crime. He wanted to do something about it.
www.nytimes.com
February 16, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I had not heard that Most Holy Trinity with its distinctive metal markers—a choice to make everyone equal in death—has had a major increase of memorials stolen recently, likely destroyed as scrap. Too many NYC cemeteries have little attention to their care outside of volunteers like this stepping in
There's such a density of garbage news that only through my brother in Memphis did I hear of this giant supercomputer that supposedly needs to run polluting gas turbines 24/7 & is offering its community zero transparency www.commercialappeal.com/story/money/...
Elon Musk's xAI wants to use gas turbines long-term at Memphis site, documents show
xAI has filed for a permit with the Shelby County Department of Health that would allow for 15 gas turbines to operate 24/7 at its Memphis site.
www.commercialappeal.com
February 15, 2025 at 4:13 AM
There's such a density of garbage news that only through my brother in Memphis did I hear of this giant supercomputer that supposedly needs to run polluting gas turbines 24/7 & is offering its community zero transparency www.commercialappeal.com/story/money/...
I reported for @theartnewspaper.bsky.social on the recent identification of a cemetery for enslaved people at Andrew Jackson's plantation, where overgrowth and absence from historic records obscured it from visibility www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/14/c...
Cemetery for enslaved people rediscovered at Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee plantation
Long-obscured and forgotten, the burial plots of more than two dozen people enslaved by the seventh president of the US are located and honoured
www.theartnewspaper.com
February 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I reported for @theartnewspaper.bsky.social on the recent identification of a cemetery for enslaved people at Andrew Jackson's plantation, where overgrowth and absence from historic records obscured it from visibility www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/14/c...
Beautiful to see a simple kindness for each other
I think it's cool that Zeitgeist, a place in Seattle I have always loved, has a little free library especially for those who are grieving. Never seen one of these before.
February 12, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Beautiful to see a simple kindness for each other