Cultural Track

2009 ITAA Proceedings #66 Annual Meeting, Bellevue, Washington October 28-31, 2009 Historic – Cultural Track Aldridge, R. & Kuttruff, J., (2009). Nineteenth Century Postmortem Dress and Death Metaphors Arthur, L., (2009). Artifacts Speak: Material Culture Studies and the Cultural Authentication of Hawai`ian Quilts Arthur, L., (2009). The President Needed New Robes: Teaching Ethnic Textiles through Creating Presidential Regalia Brosdahl, D. & Barnes, W., (2009). Seventeen and Skin Exposure: 46 Years of Advertisements Dijxhoorn, E. & Welters, L., (2009). Symmetry Analysis in Armenian Needlework ca 1860-1915 Eason, K. & Nelson-Hodges, N., (2009). The Evolution of Women in Body Modification Eluwawalage , D., (2009). A Brief Narrative of Clothing Shopping in Great Britain Hancock, J. & Kennedy, A., (2009). The Importance of Academic Research: Creating an Online Journal Khoza, L., (2009). The Power of Dress: An Analysis of Conflict Between Tradition and Modernity in Swazi Dress Kidd, L., (2009). What Becomes a Racist Most?: Hate Couture in the United States Lillethun, A., (2009). Beyond the Minoan Locus: The Scope of the Bronze Age Flounced Skirt Marcketti, S., (2009). Codes of Fair Competition: The National Industrial Recovery Act, 1933-1935 and the Women’s Ready-to-Wear Apparel Industry Meyer, S., (2009). Erte’ Fashion or Fantasy: a Search for Evidence Nelson-Hodges, N. & Copeland, R., (2009). Changes in Trinidad Carnival Dress: A (R)evolutionary Process Parsons, J. & Marcketti, S., (2009). Women and Sewing:Integrating Object Analysis with Documentary Evidence Ratute, A. & Marcketti, S., (2009). From New York to Chicago: A Plan for America’s Fashion Centers Reale, A. & Lopez-Gydosh, D., (2009). A Philadelphian in the Court of William IV: Thomas A. Biddle’s Presentation Suit Saiki, D. (2009). Enhancing Life Skills: Intergenerational Exchange About Fashion as Experienced by Young Adults Strawn, S. & Thelen, M., (2009). Where Do T-Shirts Go? Incorporating Service- Learning about Second-Hand Clothing Distribution into Historic/Cultural Course Curricula Trawick, C., (2009). Annie Malone and Poro College: Building an Enterprise of Beauty 2009 Proceedings Bellevue, Washington USA Nineteenth Century Postmortem Dress and Death Metaphors Ryan Aldridge and Jenna Tedrick Kuttruff Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 postmortem, nineteenth-century, photography, death The poem, Thanatopsis, written in 1811 by William Cullen Bryant is regarded as one of the most influential works of American literature and is a prime example of the spirit of the times (Abernathy, 1884). Thanatopsis is the Greek word for a view or contemplation of death, which is the focus of the poem (Abernathy, 1884). Thanatopsis (Bryant, 1884) contains multiple verses with words directly related to metaphors for death such as the following lines from the poem, which compare death to sleep or rest and departure. And millions in those solitudes, since first The flight of years began, have laid them down In their last sleep--the dead reign there alone. So shalt thou rest: and what if thou withdraw In silence from the living, and no friend Take note of thy departure? The concluding lines of Thanatopsis (1884) describe death as the joining of a “caravan” of the dead and journeying proudly to a “mysterious realm” where rest brings “pleasant dreams.” So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. Prior to and during the nineteenth century, death metaphors, such as eternal rest or departure, were common in the literature and speech of individuals as a means of dealing with the complex idea of death (Pound, 1936). Allusions to death metaphors, which were meant to ease the suffering of recently deceased’s loved ones, can also be found in the arts and imagery of the nineteenth century. A popular genre of nineteenth century imagery, which not only contained allusions to death metaphors but also images of the dead themselves, was postmortem photography. A study of postmortem photographs from two publications by Stanley Burns, Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America (1990) and Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement and The Family In Memorial Photography American & European Traditions (2002), revealed insight into the relationships between the surroundings in postmortem photographs, the postmortem dress of deceased individuals, and nineteenth century death metaphors. The two book titles refer to the nineteenth century reference to death as sleep or rest from the hardship of life, which is prevalent in Thanatopsis. The reference to deceased individuals as sleeping beauties is often supported in the postmortem photographs by the closed eyes, body position, and coffins ©2009, International Textile and Apparel Association, Inc. ITAA Proceedings, #66 – www.itaaonline.org 2009 Proceedings Bellevue, Washington USA or caskets lined with textiles and pillows that suggest sleep or eternal rest. Eighty-four American postmortem photographs ranging in date from 1840 to 1900 and containing 89 deceased individuals were examined in the study. Eighty percent of deceased individuals in the study were dressed in day dress as opposed to shrouds or night dress. What role did dress play in the conveyance of death metaphors within the context of postmortem images? The following descriptions of postmortem appearance from the study illustrate how dress relates to nineteenth century death metaphors depicted in postmortem photographs. Pre- and postmortem images of a male child call into question the allusion of sleep (Plate 7, Burns, 1990). The male child’s appearance is manipulated in the postmortem image to disregard the more natural appearance of sleep found in the pre-mortem image. Although his eyes are open in the pre-mortem image and closed in the postmortem image, other subtle details challenge how closely the image appears to portray a sleeping or resting individual. His posture changed from tossed and turned in the pre-mortem image to lying flat on his back with his head in profile and hair parted on the side, combed and fixed in the postmortem image. This seems unlikely for a sleeping child when compared to the disheveled hair and crooked posture of the pre-mortem image. The shirt goes from being hidden under a blanket that is pulled to the child’s chin, which appears more like an image of a sleeping individual, to being neatly arranged and displayed with the blanket removed in the postmortem image. Many of the suggestions given by the surroundings and appearance depicted in the pre-mortem image taken while the child was alive readily relate to sleep rather than the manipulations of appearance created in the postmortem image that are meant to portray the allusion of the eternal rest image. The postmortem dress of a deceased adult male seems to contradict the implication of death as sleep metaphor suggested by the surroundings in his postmortem image (Plate 25, Burns, 1990). The deceased adult male is photographed lying in bed with his wife at his side, a pillow under his head and a quilt and covers pulled to his chest, which suggest the adult male is resting in bed. However, the adult male’s dress that consists of a shirt, collar, tie and coat contradicts the allusion to death as sleep or eternal rest. The dress is more comparable to day dress from the period rather than night dress and would have been inappropriate if not uncomfortable to wear while sleeping or resting. The deceased man’s day dress is similar to what would have been worn during the nineteenth century when departing on a journey rather than while lying in bed. In some postmortem photographs there is little to differentiate between the dress and appearance of the living and the dead. In an image of deceased and living twin brothers, the dress is identical and suggests the deceased brother shares a similarity with living brother even in death (Plate 46, Burns, 1990). The deceased twin is dressed as he might have been while on a journey during his lifetime and the identical dress shared with the living twin suggests the living bond between twins is not easily broken by death. The postmortem dress blurs the line between the living and the dead and the lying position and closed eyes of the deceased twin that suggests eternal rest is contrasted with the suit he shares in common with his living twin. A postmortem image of living and deceased sisters that are posed seated on their father’s lap displays the importance placed on dress in the deceased individual’s final portrait (Plate 92, Burns, 2002). Although the pose is similar for both children, the dress of the deceased child contrasts sharply with the dress and appearance of the father and living sister. The deceased child is wearing a more decorative and ornate, light valued dress, light stockings and newer shoes in comparison to the dress of the living sister, which includes an ordinary patterned pinafore, dark stockings and worn shoes. The dress of the deceased daughter also seems more elaborate when compared to the dress of the father, which consists of a shirt and trousers that are casual and worn and the absence of a vest, coat or tie. The deceased child’s dress, in ©2009, International Textile and Apparel Association, Inc. ITAA Proceedings, #66 – www.itaaonline.org 2009 Proceedings Bellevue, Washington USA comparison to the dress of the living family members, appears carefully selected for the child’s final portrait and coincides with the appearance of an individual dressed for departure on the final journey. Nineteenth century images found in Severa (1995, pp 64 & 164), one of a deceased infant and one of a living infant, show many similarities between the pose and style of dress worn by both the infants and the appearance of the mothers.

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