Ordinary Artifacts

🌷HAUNTED PAPER: THE EPHEMERA OF DEATH & DYING🌷

CW: Photos of the deceased

Throughout history, the dead have been mourned. Death & dying have always been marked with rituals & ceremonies. Sometimes, the remains for these practices are archaeological. But other times, ephemeral evidence remains.

In the Western world, mourning is often associated with the Victorian era. There were many outward expressions of grief that touched every aspect of a Victorian’s life- from fashions & home decor to stationery & social calendars. Mourning touched every aspect of a Victorian life.

During the 19th century, a funeral would occur at home. Rooms were decorated mourning wreaths & flowers; black crepe was draped over doors. Mourning clothes were purchased. Clocks in the home were stopped & mirrors covered. The casket was displayed, surrounded by floral sprays. Photographs were taken of the deceased & bits of hair were clipped to make mourning jewelry, pins & art.

Nothing sheds light on the social aspects of death quite like objects from that time. Billheads tell us about the financial aspects of dying. Clothing & advertisements for mourning wear help us understand how all-encompassing one’s grief had to be. And how the death industry was marketed. We look at memorial cards, funeral cards & letters on mourning stationery for more personal expressions of grief. Artistic trends & aesthetics are reflected on grave art in the cemetery. And we can see the dead in postmortem photography.

Death & loss connect us to those who came before us, whether it was the generation before or ten thousand years ago. Rather than view death-related objects as ‘creepy’, I see them as evidence of people helping each other through the hardest thing many of us will ever go through. Ordinary artifacts left behind, by those who were they themselves left behind, tell us stories of unimaginable loss & celebrations of lives lived.

Join me this Thursday for an hour full of the funeral ledgers, cemetery guidebooks, photos of headstones, embalmers’ billheads, death certificates and more.

Haunted Paper Sale
Thursday, Oct 19
8-9pm cst

Comment for a tag!

🌷MONUMENTS & GRAVESTONES🌷

For more than a century, the creation of headstones has been a true artform. They’re monuments to one’s life and a physical representation of the love and grief those left behind feel.

This collection of mounted photographs are from a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania monuments and grave works company. The images, which all date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, document different styles and designs that were selected and used in cemeteries throughout Lancaster and Berks County.

Based on the craftsmanship, location and date of this collection, I believe they document the work of Haldy Granite & Monumental Works (later WY Haldy & Sons).

Haldy Monumental Works was founded by Lewis Haldy in 1849. Haldy immigrated to the US from France with his family. On their voyage to America, their ship sank and they lost everything. Likely due to the hospitality he received upon being rescued, Haldy was a proud patriot. He volunteered to serve in the Army during the Civil War and supported causes for veterans for the rest of his life.

Haldy received several notable commissions during his life including the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Lancaster and the massive burial monument for Milton Hershey (of Hershey Chocolate) and his family. The company was often featured in trade journals and shown as being examples of exemplary craftsmanship and innovation.

Upon his father’s death, WY Haldy took over the family business; he was later succeeded by his own two sons. Today, the Haldy Monumental Works still exists though it is part of a larger conglomerate of grave works.

This collection will be coming to this shop during tonight’s sale And don’t miss Thursday’s Haunted Paper sale.

All sales happening on Instagram: instagram.com/ordinaryartifacts

🌷NOVEL PAPER: THE EPHEMERA OF BOOKS & BOOKSELLERS🌷

This one is for my fellow bibliophiles.

Here’s a visual love letter to books using the ephemera surrounding them. From bookplates and library cards to billheads and trade cards, there is so much to learn from these old bits of paper.

For some of us, collecting ‘book ephemera’ started because of our love of reading. And each piece is like a work of art! But we can also study them to learn more about cultural trends, fashions, history and individual reader’s personalities.

To me, collecting ‘book ephemera’ is much more personal than other types of paper (that I also love dearly!). There’s something so intimate about seeing a physical manifestation of someone else’s love of reading, even if they lived and died centuries ago.