A Rabbit's Review 1/6/2011

Posted 1/10

Cemeteries
(Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks)

By Keith Eggener
December, 2010
W. W. Norton & Company, 320 pp. $75.00
650 black-and-white photographs
ISBN 978-0393731699

There are few public cultural institutions that I value more than the Library of Congress. Come to think of it, only the Smithsonian comes close! I can certainly support anything which states that its mission is:

… to develop qualitatively the Library's universal collections, which document the history and further the creativity of the American people and which record and contribute to the advancement of civilization and knowledge throughout the world, and to acquire, organize, provide access to, maintain, secure, and preserve these collections.

The LOC’s dedication to making their archives available to all is shown in a series published by Norton in conjunction with the Library’s Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering. Within the eight years, the nine titles of the Visual Sourcebooks series, from Barns to Public Markets, have rapidly become the standard references on their respective subjects. As with the other texts, the latest title Cemeteries draws on the LOC collections from the Historical American Building and Landscape Surveys to the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information photographs. (Norton Press and the LOC provide access to the images in the book on line at http://www.wwnorton.com/npb/loc/cemeteries/.) The images used throughout the book, including the maps, are downloadable and may be used if the LOC’s copyright policy is followed.

I tried to imagine if it was an absolute joy or misery to work on this book; it must have been a bit of both. Cemetery books usually focus either on the architectural structures or on the history and form of the burial grounds. Given the depth each of these topics require, it is impressive that this book can be so comprehensive on both. For example, not only are the standard topics of chapels, mausolea and entrances covered, but the ironwork of gates and fencing is thoroughly treated as well.

The text of the book is understandably spare, and is largely confined to chapter introductions and explanations of the photographs. It is the images that carry the weight of the book, and through them, historical, geographical and cultural differences come to the fore with great clarity. For example, the chapter “Buildings and Other Architectural Elements” includes the crematory of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood as well as the Old and New Amphitheaters of Arlington. Seeing both interior and exterior shots of the nation’s first modern crematory (p. 190) one immediately understands that a new way of commemorating death has emerged. The design and décor of the crematory and columbarium themselves express the ideals of architectural modernism, mirroring the changing aspirations of the larger society.

The same can also be said of the Amphitheaters of Arlington. The Meigs designed Old Amphitheater (p. 192-3), built on the site of temporary stands used for the dedication of the cemetery itself, were originally Robert E. Lee’s gardens. The Ambulatory and Rostrum were designed to encourage a sense of contemplation and peace much needed a few short years after the Civil War. On the other hand, the Memorial Amphitheater (p. 194), authorized by Congress in 1913, with seating for up to 5,000 people, and the Tomb of the Unknowns adjacent, has a sense of grandeur befitting a nation on the verge of becoming a great world power. The structure is a solemn one, reminding us of how and why those memorialized within Arlington died.

To call this a “coffee table book” would fail to do it justice. Although that is certainly where it will be found in my house, it will soon become slightly tattered from eager use. Looking at the book I found myself marveling over the images created by some of America’s finest photographers. It does sadden me, however, that many of the photographs can no longer be reshot, as some the locations, markers and cultures represented here have disappeared. Eggener’s Cemeteries serve to remind us that when we photograph such places, we are not just making beautiful images, but producing historical documents that are themselves acts of commemoration.
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LisaMary Wichowski
Portland, OR
Taphopolis
http://www.taphopolis.com/

LisaMary is finishing her MA in Labor History at UIChicago. She plans on completing her PhD in American Studies with a dissertation on ethnicity and death rituals, that is, tracing patterns of assimilation through how we honor our departed. Her interest in cemeteries is part of her heart and mind. LM's heart loves them for the tales they tell us about individuals, her mind for the stories they share about our community and culture.