[Personal_archives] images of death

Wed Oct 29 10:51:35 EDT 2008

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.   

________________________________

De : personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] De la part de Rodney Carter
Envoyé : 29 octobre 2008 10:25
À : Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
Objet : Re: [Personal_archives] images of death

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 

Jay Ruby, Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in America,(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999)

More in a little while.
Rodney

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Hobbs, Catherine <catherine.hobbs at lac-bac.gc.ca> wrote:

	Judith's message brought to mind an interview with Joan Schwartz (no
	doubt some of you know the programme/new item I'm refering to, but I
	can't remember) where she discusses her study of 19thC portraits taken
	of dead children.  She discusses the way in which these portraits were
	taken by studio photographers shortly after the death and how they
	functioned as reminders to the Victorians who had a different sense of
	memorialization.

	If any of you know of an article on the topic we'll add it to the
	citations relating to the discussion.  (By the way, I've been meaning to
	mention that:  we'll be aiming to compile the citations for the
	discussion).

	Best,

	Catherine

	-----Original Message-----
	From: personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu
	[mailto:personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Judith
	Colwell
	Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:04 PM
	To: Archives; Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
	Subject: Re: [Personal_archives] personal archives

	The photos that we have in a church archvies, amid personal papers, are
	often taken to back up a report or to put a face on a church -- hence
	alumninum souvenir plates  and postcards showing the image of the
	minister and of the church exterior.  In some circles these would be art
	forms -- after all the engraving on the aluminum or tin took some skill.
	Then the question arises asking whether the church was as stern as the
	minister, or was the minister pushing an image that he thought the
	church wanted.

	As to pictures of funerals, etc. -- depends on the geographic area in
	question.  I have some photos of people laid out in their caskets which
	appear to be part of a culture.  And I vividly recall, from back in the
	late 1950's a schoolmate with her album of photos of her mother in
	casket and the funeral.  Creepy to me, but ....

	Judith Colwell
	----- Original Message -----
	From: "Archives" <archives at trinity.utoronto.ca>
	To: <Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu>
	Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:07 PM
	Subject: [Personal_archives] personal archives

	Hello all,

	Reading the articles I have been struck by the universality of the
	'snapshot' experience, how we all know the rules of picture-taking and
	viewing. First we know that although the picture captures a real moment,
	it is also a projection of an idealized life. Secondly, we know that
	much is hidden - hence the sadness that Barthes refers to and which I
	would argue goes beyond the realization that the subject may be dead.

	Chambers refers to the feminine character of snapshot taking and album
	making, and points out that despite this female perspective there are no
	pictures of housework. Taking this one step further, there are also no
	pictures of screaming infants, two-year-olds having a tantrum, sullen
	teen-agers screaming "I hate you!". There are no pictures of sick-beds
	or funerals. The family album or photo collection presents a world
	without pain. Since most of us have personal experience with the
	phenomenon of family albums, we instinctively do not buy into this, and
	realize that the mythology created is unrealistic and to some extent,
	banal. Could the family album be seen as the visual equivalent of the
	Christmas letter?

	In an archival context, we find the pictures complemented and completed
	by other elements in a fonds: a file of condolence cards, doctor's
	bills, diaries recording private anguish, letters containing an
	outpouring of emotion. And they are certainly useful, as Catherine
	points out, for identification purposes.

	Martha asks the fundamental question: "is everyday photographic
	experience transferrable to art?" I'd argue that it is and that the
	artist has the same mandate as the archivist. The historic photograph on
	its own is nearly meaningless, and thus it requires either
	transformation (by an artist) or contextualization (by an archivist) to
	make it 'real'. It's function during the lifetime of its subjects, and
	perhaps for a generation after, is to follow a path that has been
	tacitly approved by its viewing public. After that, it's fair game for
	us!

	Thanks, Catherine, Martha et al. for making this happen.

	Sylvia

	----- Original Message ----
	From: Alison Nordstrom <anordstrom at geh.org>
	To: Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
	Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 9:40:51 AM
	Subject: [Personal_archives] (re-sent) first thoughts of the morning

	I'm curious about who's lurking here. I suspect we have archivists,
	curators and students who may do any number of things in the future.
	Strikes me that we might have very different notions and working
	definitions of "family photograph." Can we share?

	I tend to say various things like "a photograph used in the family as a
	metaphor for that family, an ideological device that defines family, a
	statement both internally directed and externally directed that
	manifests an ideal, a record of a family."

	How do these past uses cling to a photograph ( or group of photographs)
	as it/they moves away from original use?
	_______________________________________________
	Personal_archives mailing list
	Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
	http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives

	_______________________________________________
	Personal_archives mailing list
	Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
	http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives
	_______________________________________________
	Personal_archives mailing list
	Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
	http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/personal_archives/attachments/20081029/66c04235/attachment-0001.html 