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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=015174514-29102008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>On a personal note, some areas of the Canadian Maritime
provinces -- certainly the Acadian areas of Prince Edward Island -- continue to
take photographs of deceased relatives laid out in their caskets at funeral
homes. In my parents' photo albums, which I went through this past summer
with my 10-year old niece, we discovered photos of my grandparents, uncles
and aunts and other extended family members in their caskets. At my
grandmother's funeral in March 2000, the family even set up a DVD-video recorder
in a corner of the funeral home to produce a video for a relative who could
not come down to New Brunswick for the
wake. </FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=fr dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>De :</B>
personal_archives-bounces@mailman.yale.edu
[mailto:personal_archives-bounces@mailman.yale.edu] <B>De la part de</B> Rodney
Carter<BR><B>Envoyé :</B> 29 octobre 2008 10:25<BR><B>À :</B>
Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu<BR><B>Objet :</B> Re:
[Personal_archives] images of death<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>There has been a fair amount of work on post-mortem or funeral
photography. One of the best sources that I am aware of is <BR><BR>Jay Ruby,
<FONT size=2><I><SPAN id=btAsinTitle>Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in
America</SPAN></I></FONT><I>,</I>(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999)<BR><BR>More
in a little while.<BR>Rodney<BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Hobbs, Catherine <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:catherine.hobbs@lac-bac.gc.ca">catherine.hobbs@lac-bac.gc.ca</A>></SPAN>
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">Judith's
message brought to mind an interview with Joan Schwartz (no<BR>doubt some of
you know the programme/new item I'm refering to, but I<BR>can't remember)
where she discusses her study of 19thC portraits taken<BR>of dead children.
She discusses the way in which these portraits were<BR>taken by studio
photographers shortly after the death and how they<BR>functioned as reminders
to the Victorians who had a different sense of<BR>memorialization.<BR><BR>If
any of you know of an article on the topic we'll add it to the<BR>citations
relating to the discussion. (By the way, I've been meaning to<BR>mention
that: we'll be aiming to compile the citations for
the<BR>discussion).<BR><BR>Best,<BR><BR>Catherine<BR><BR><BR>-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: <A
href="mailto:personal_archives-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">personal_archives-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR>[mailto:<A
href="mailto:personal_archives-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">personal_archives-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</A>]
On Behalf Of Judith<BR>Colwell<BR>Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:04
PM<BR>To: Archives; <A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR>Subject:
Re: [Personal_archives] personal archives<BR><BR>The photos that we have in a
church archvies, amid personal papers, are<BR>often taken to back up a report
or to put a face on a church -- hence<BR>alumninum souvenir plates and
postcards showing the image of the<BR>minister and of the church exterior.
In some circles these would be art<BR>forms -- after all the engraving
on the aluminum or tin took some skill.<BR>Then the question arises asking
whether the church was as stern as the<BR>minister, or was the minister
pushing an image that he thought the<BR>church wanted.<BR><BR>As to pictures
of funerals, etc. -- depends on the geographic area in<BR>question. I
have some photos of people laid out in their caskets which<BR>appear to be
part of a culture. And I vividly recall, from back in the<BR>late 1950's
a schoolmate with her album of photos of her mother in<BR>casket and the
funeral. Creepy to me, but ....<BR><BR>Judith Colwell<BR>----- Original
Message -----<BR>From: "Archives" <<A
href="mailto:archives@trinity.utoronto.ca">archives@trinity.utoronto.ca</A>><BR>To:
<<A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A>><BR>Sent:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:07 PM<BR>Subject: [Personal_archives] personal
archives<BR><BR><BR>Hello all,<BR><BR>Reading the articles I have been struck
by the universality of the<BR>'snapshot' experience, how we all know the rules
of picture-taking and<BR>viewing. First we know that although the picture
captures a real moment,<BR>it is also a projection of an idealized life.
Secondly, we know that<BR>much is hidden - hence the sadness that Barthes
refers to and which I<BR>would argue goes beyond the realization that the
subject may be dead.<BR><BR>Chambers refers to the feminine character of
snapshot taking and album<BR>making, and points out that despite this female
perspective there are no<BR>pictures of housework. Taking this one step
further, there are also no<BR>pictures of screaming infants, two-year-olds
having a tantrum, sullen<BR>teen-agers screaming "I hate you!". There are no
pictures of sick-beds<BR>or funerals. The family album or photo collection
presents a world<BR>without pain. Since most of us have personal experience
with the<BR>phenomenon of family albums, we instinctively do not buy into
this, and<BR>realize that the mythology created is unrealistic and to some
extent,<BR>banal. Could the family album be seen as the visual equivalent of
the<BR>Christmas letter?<BR><BR>In an archival context, we find the pictures
complemented and completed<BR>by other elements in a fonds: a file of
condolence cards, doctor's<BR>bills, diaries recording private anguish,
letters containing an<BR>outpouring of emotion. And they are certainly useful,
as Catherine<BR>points out, for identification purposes.<BR><BR>Martha asks
the fundamental question: "is everyday photographic<BR>experience
transferrable to art?" I'd argue that it is and that the<BR>artist has the
same mandate as the archivist. The historic photograph on<BR>its own is nearly
meaningless, and thus it requires either<BR>transformation (by an artist) or
contextualization (by an archivist) to<BR>make it 'real'. It's function during
the lifetime of its subjects, and<BR>perhaps for a generation after, is to
follow a path that has been<BR>tacitly approved by its viewing public. After
that, it's fair game for<BR>us!<BR><BR>Thanks, Catherine, Martha et al. for
making this happen.<BR><BR>Sylvia<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>-----
Original Message ----<BR>From: Alison Nordstrom <<A
href="mailto:anordstrom@geh.org">anordstrom@geh.org</A>><BR>To: <A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR>Sent:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 9:40:51 AM<BR>Subject: [Personal_archives] (re-sent)
first thoughts of the morning<BR><BR>I'm curious about who's lurking here. I
suspect we have archivists,<BR>curators and students who may do any number of
things in the future.<BR>Strikes me that we might have very different notions
and working<BR>definitions of "family photograph." Can we share?<BR><BR>I tend
to say various things like "a photograph used in the family as a<BR>metaphor
for that family, an ideological device that defines family, a<BR>statement
both internally directed and externally directed that<BR>manifests an ideal, a
record of a family."<BR><BR>How do these past uses cling to a photograph ( or
group of photographs)<BR>as it/they moves away from original
use?<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_archives
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR><A
href="http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives"
target=_blank>http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives</A><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_archives
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR><A
href="http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives"
target=_blank>http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives</A><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_archives
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