More than 1,000 postmortem and memorial photographs from the early 19th through the mid-20th century are now available for research and teaching in the Medical Historical Library of the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library. Amassed and donated by ophthalmologist Stanley B. Burns, the new collection documents American and some European death photography and rituals.
The collection encompasses ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, cartes de visite (small photos mounted on cardboard), tintypes, celluloids, stereoviews, photo postcards, and albumen prints. Also included are memorial cabinet cards, ephemera related to the funeral industry, and coffin plates. The tombstone salesman’s leather traveling case contains stereoview cards and a viewer. One image includes a piece of hair as part of the memorialization; another photo is mounted in a brooch. A smaller series focuses on the 1885 funeral of President Ulysses S. Grant. It also includes Burns’s 91-volume reference and research collection on the topic of death and dying.
Researchers may apply through April 26 for the Stanley B. Burns M.D. Fellowship for the Study of Medical and Postmortem Photographic History, which offers awards of up to $2,000 to support research in this and related collections.
Read more about the collection in this Yale Library News article. While the collection is unprocessed and materials are not listed, access may be requested by contacting the Medical Historical Library staff at historical.library@yale.edu.