Historic Oakland Cemetery, Inc., a non-profit “friends of Oakland” organization, is founded by City of Atlanta Historian Franklin Garrett; Emory physician, Louis J. Elsas, M.D. and his brother Alan; Clark College professor Dr. Alexa Henderson; Mrs. W. Perrin Nicholson, a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the Victorian Society in America; Atlanta Historical Society staffer Lil Salter; Mrs. Dorothy Spence, a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; Marion Combs, Assistant Dean of the Emory Graduate School, and his wife, Diana Combs.
It is renamed Historic Oakland Foundation in 1994.