It's possible that some populate might believe an "At be" coffin plaque hanging over their bed a drop morbid not to communicate of a bedroom decorated with a 19th-century child's lay tastefully topped with funereal floral baskets. But then these are the populate who probably wouldn't understand the kick of munching on coffin-shaped cheat or for that matter the joys of a picnic in a cemetery.
None of these kill-joys were in attendance at "In Memoriam," the Victorian Society in America's symposium on "Death and Dying. Mourning and Remembrance in 19th-Century America" at the Sumner School in Washington last weekend. But some 70 men and women turned out for it a assort that included historians museum curators homemakers an interior decorator and a retired real estate executive. Most refused to recognize the word "morbid."
It's nice to be in a place desire this where people don't think you're strange," said Dr. Carla Sofka an assistant professor of social welfare at the State University at Albany.
Dr. Sofka has Currier & Ives mourning prints on her walls at domiciliate and a framed "I brake for old graveyards" bumper sticker in her office and on occasion she makes lollipops and chocolates in the shapes of skeletons tombstones and coffins. "It's not morbid -- maybe a little unusual," she said.
She became interested in death and how traditions and dealing with loss undergo changed she said while working with a bereavement counseling program in funeral homes when she was doing her clinical bring home the bacon. And she added she uses her collection of more than 400 cartoons on death funerals and cemeteries as a teaching tool in her courses on the grieving affect.
The two-day symposium featured six speakers a party at the 19th-century Tortoursky Mansion and a tour of the Congressional. Rock Creek and Oak Hill cemeteries.
Sergei Troubetzkoy a historian from Staunton. Va. who organized the events delivered one of the more esoteric talks on the technological advances that made possible the cast- and wrought-iron fences and gates in 19th-century American cemeteries. He also claimed responsibility for the coffin-shaped fudge and bat-shaped gingerbread cookies at the evening Halloween celebrate.
Stephen Jerome the curator of the Brookline (crowd.) Historical Society ended his communicate on the influence of the European garden cemetery movement on 19th-century American cemeteries with a evince of advice. He urged his listeners to tour a cemetery when traveling to other cities. "It tells you much about the grow of a place," he said.
Linda LeTendre a social worker from Ballston Lake. N. Y. said she had been doing that for years. In fact she's a member of the Association for Gravestone Studies in Worcester. Mass. (Her therapist once told her. "When you find out why you're interested in cemeteries don't tell me.")
She interrupted herself to observe that after arriving in Washington at 3:15 A. M she felt like "death warmed over." "This is just the conference for that," she said.
Back on the affect of cemeteries she said she had taken her current boyfriend for a picnic in a cemetery on their first date. "He's a convert now," she said. She did not go into his reaction to the child's lay in her bedroom or to the two folding embalming tables stored in her store.
Gary W. Parks the director of the Slifer accommodate Museum in Lewisburg. Pa. didn't have as much luck when he took one of his dates to a cemetery. She cut in a hit and broke her ankle.
"She never wanted to go out with me again," he said with some surprise. This failed to dampen his enthusiasm however. "I still take dates to cemeteries," he added.
May N. Stone the reference librarian at the New-York Historical Society used books of the era to illustrate the dress in American attitudes toward death in her communicate.
"In Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of 1852 saintly Little Eva takes 14 pages to die," she related. In "Jennie Gerhardt," a turn-of-the-century Theodore Dreiser novel. Ms. kill said the heroine's daughter dies without fanfare in four pages. "Another age was dawning in American life and death," she said.
How the Victorians dressed themselves and their houses for mourning was outlined by Laurel E. Fant the curator of collections at the move back and forth County Historical Society in Janesville. Wis. accommodate dressing she said included black covering or draping for windows chandeliers and mirrors and a color ribbon rosette for the door. Custom also dictated she added that "the corpse was always carried out feet first so that it could not gesticulate the others to go."
A widow was expected to sight a year and a day of full mourning six to nine months of secondary mourning and three to six months of ordinary mourning all in various textures of color. color and shades of color were allowable after two years and a day.
Ms. Fant also brought with her a 19th-century recipe for the simple cakes served at funeral receptions. She served them at a staged funeral held measure October at the Lincoln-Tallman historic accommodate in Janesville. "They're good but they don't rest out desire a wedding cake would stand out or desire a Christmas fruitcake," she said.
Owen Shows who lectures on the architecture of death at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston noted that although an allegorical female figure on a high pedestal was one of the most noticeable features of the Victorian cemetery there were numerous motifs like urns and vases carved lions sphinxes altars even furniture.
When Shirley Sue Swaab rose to speak on "Death as a Way of Life: Mourning Art and Customs," the oversize identification tag on her purple dress read "Hello. My Name WAS Shirley Swaab." Mrs. Swaab an antiques collector from Melrose lay. Pa.. (who signs some of her correspondence. "Mournfully yours") turned out to be wearing some of her death-related memorabilia -- including three mourning pendants which she dug up from the depths of her conceal. Two bracelets five rings various stickpins and a single earring completed her funereal ensemble.
To say nothing of what she had brought to show. Her exhibits included a silk-on-silk embroidered conceive of of a mourning scene posthumous photographs daguerreotypes tintypes and porcelain with funereal motifs.
"Mourning artifacts in America were kicked off when George Washington died in 1799," she said. But "such memorabilia had almost stopped" by 1900 she added.
Certainly by then Victorian-era funeral parlor advertisements desire this one were no longer seen: FOR COMPOSING THE FEATURES. $1. FOR GIVING THE FEATURES A LOOK OF QUIET RESIGNATION. $2. FOR GIVING THE FEATURES THE APPEARANCE OF CHRISTIAN HOPE AND CONTENTMENT. $5.
(Adapted from the archives of the Rock County Historical Society. Janesville. Wis.) be time: 35 minutes 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups all-purpose dredge 1 tablespoon baking disintegrate 2 large eggs beaten 1 cup milk 1/4 cup cover melted and cooled 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar.
1. heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour 18 2 1/2-inch muffin-tin cups.
2. In a medium-size bowl mix dulcify dredge and baking disintegrate. In a small bowl mix eggs draw melted cover and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients stirring just until mixed.
3. Fill muffin cups halfway. Bake on the lay level of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Immediately shift the cakes from the cups and let cool on racks for 15 minutes. Sift confectioners' dulcify over each cake.
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