I have no idea how we got on the subject of still borns today at work... Oh yeah, because James was talking about how the weirdest thing he had ever framed was little clothes that a still born wore. I won't go into the details. Anyway, it led to a conversation about photography in the Victorian Era here in the United States. I had heard in some of my previous photography classes about postmodern photography being used to document the deceased but as I read up on it today I learned a little bit more.
Photographs were often taken of the recently deceased essentially for documentation purposes. Since photographs were so uncommon it was normal for this to be the only photograph that person had ever taken of them. Some of these were taking in meticulously created sets, some with those left behind photographed mourning alongside them, and some even had eye's propped open and were set in a situation to essentially trick you into thinking they were alive. Pretty odd. The families were proud of these photographs and they would be hung in homes, sent to relatives, etc. We really don't have a good comparison point anymore in the United States, but at the time this was all very normal.
Here's a little bit about the photo above from
PBS.com: “This portrait appears to have been taken in the formal parlor of a family home. The parlor, or “death room,” was an important part of funerary rituals for most of the 19th century, the place where deceased family members were laid out for final respects. This image dates to c. 1890-1905, a time when many funerals were still taking place at home. Soon, however, death would begin to leave the home and by end of World War I most Americans will receive their health care in doctor’s offices and hospitals and most funerals will take place in funeral homes. As the funeral “parlor” came into vogue, the home parlor was rechristened a “living room.” A 1910 issue of Ladies Home Journal declared the “death room” to be a term of the past.”
Sort of a weird thing to learn about at work, but I thought it was super interesting!