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Sometimes multiple images were taken of the de-
ceased: alone, with a parent or spouse, at the gravesite,
and so on. Since daguerreotypes were unique images,
this was one way of creating more than one image.
Such images also recorded the different aspects death
and mourning and the specifi c events and feelings as-
sociated with them.
Special black mourning cases embossed with funer-
ary designs were made for postmortem daguerreotypes.
If no postmortem photograph had been taken a photo-
graph of the person while alive was sometimes put in
a mourning case. Funeral notices, poems, letters, and
other small remembrances were often kept in the case.
As the century progressed photographs were included in
mourning lockets and rings and all sorts of other memo-
rial photographic paraphernalia was invented. In 1851 a
U.S. patent for a special case to imbed daguerreotypes
in tombstones was granted.
In the 1860s with the advent of albumen prints and
the invention of the popular carte-de-visite, multiple
prints of the postmortem photograph became possible.
This facilitated the dissemination of images to rela-
tives in distant locations, often accompanied by a letter
describing the death, funeral, and mourning practices
being observed. At this time images start to depict simple
surroundings and tend to show the subject “at peace”
with the hands crossed over the body.
In the mid-19th century the illustrated press such
as the Illustrated London News and Harper’s Weekly
routinely published images of death, particularly im-
ages from war or gruesome accidents. In 1863 Matthew
Brady began to produce images of the civil war dead
that were sold to a popular audience in the form of
stereographic cards. Images of death became a type of
collectible news item. While this topic deserves further
exploration elsewhere, for the purposes of this article
it is worth noting that such wide acceptance of death
as news image probably would not have been as eas-
ily accepted by the public were it not for the already
widespread production of postmortem photographs for
private use.
By the 1870s stereographs become a popular format
for postmortem images. The stereograph’s popularity
was soon eclipsed by the larger format cabinet card,
which afforded greater freedom in the posing, lighting
and background of the postmortem portrait. The cabinet
card remained popular through the turn of the century. In
the larger format images of the dead became more staged
and an interest in the beautifi cation of the deceased sur-
faced for the fi rst time. Rather than recording the raw
facts of death, or denying death, fl attering poses and the
increased inclusion of symbolic accoutrements pointed
out the transience of life. A stopped clock signaled the
moment a life had ended; a rose held downward held
indicated that the child depicted was indeed dead; the
head and body resting on pillows stood for eternal sleep
and a closed book symbolized a closed life. Flowers
were also placed around the body. Flower arrangements
in symbolic shapes such as crosses became popular.
Personal effects, especially for children, were increas-
ingly included and elements of the photograph were
often hand-tinted.
In the 1880s the practice of embalming the deceased
became more common, allowing more time to beautify
the corpse and to set up elaborate poses and scenes.
Casket photographs become more popular as the more
luxurious and comfortable looking cloth-lined casket
replaced the narrow wooden coffi n heretofore in com-
mon use. Sometimes the image of the deceased was
superimposed into the center of a stock background of
fl owers and wreathes, creating a lush, abundant setting
foretelling the deceased’s fi nal destination in paradise.
From 1885–1910 this increased emphasis on placing the
deceased in the coffi n within a larger funeral “scene”
became more popular, especially for adults.
Beginning in the early 1880s black mourning cards
were frequently distributed to mourners. The simplest
contained only the name of the deceased. The most
elaborate contained a poem from the vast stock of funeral
literature that had been written over the course of the
century, as well as a photograph of the deceased. This
sideline to the practice of postmortem photography con-
tinued through the early decades of the 20th century. It
is but one example of the numerous businesses that grew
up around the high Victorian preoccupation with death
and contributed to the outcry by numerous late Victorian
social critics against the commercialization of death.
In the late 19th century death and the responsibilities
associated with it increasingly moved from the home
and family to institutions. The death of the sick occurred
more often at the hospital, the body was prepared by
professionals at the funeral parlor rather than by the
family, and the wake was held there instead of at the
home. The formal room in the family home known as
the parlor where important visitors were received and
viewings and wakes were held began its transforma-
tion into the modern living room as the funeral parlor
replaced many of its previous functions. Postmortem
photography taken at the funeral home emphasized the
social aspect of the funeral, both as a family gather-
ing and as the last record of the deceased as a tangible
member of the family circle. The funeral director often
took on the role of postmortem photographer, a service
that he could discreetly offer the family.
As funeral rites and practices changed, some as-
pects of death became more private and many of the
visible trappings of mourning began to disappear. The
practice of photographing the deceased became more
private, as evidenced by the fact that photographers no
longer openly advertised their postmortem services.