This is part 1 of the story (in 5 parts, plus one digression) of a white man who tried to glue together his life, sliced…
1866, Richmond, Virginia: “The Hollywood [Cemetery] Association observed May 31st as Memorial Day. Business was suspended, the stores closed, and the whole city turned out…
Maintain and mend was the rule in America through the nineteenth century. Wealthy people passed down worn, damaged, or out-of-fashion clothes, furniture, and dishes to…
In Oakwood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, most of the Confederate dead, known and unknown, moulder in graves marked only by numbered blocks of granite. That doesn’t…
Those beautifully vivid 19th century photos–the imagery so sharp you feel as if you can touch the fabric, the buttons, the hair–required people to remain…
Far down below I hear the river rush, / And standing in this city of the dead, / The voice of waters seems a human cry…. The…