Photographs of the Dead Were Once Private Keepsakes

Nov. 1, 2010— -- Photographs of parents posing next to their dead children and the sound of dripping water simulating ice melting over a decomposing body are both disturbing and heart-breaking components of a new exhibition at the Merchant House Museum.

"Memento Mori" includes more than 50 postmortem memorial photographs and ephemera from the Burns Archive which is considered to be the largest private archive of historic photography. The exhibition also includes modern takes on memorial photography.

Postmortem photographs became popular after the introduction of photography in the mid-19th century. Although it seems morbid, photographs of the dead were done out a desire to preserve an image of a loved one.

"These portraits were not for public consumption," said Dr. Stanley B. Burns, 72, the archives' owner. "They were held very close to the chest."

In many cases, especially with children, family members often died before relatives had an opportunity to take their portraits.

"It's macabre but it doesn't creep me out," said Vincent Warren, 72, a library curator from Montreal, Canada. Warren happened upon the exhibition while touring the Merchant House Museum, a historic Federal style row house in Manhattan's East Village built in 1832.

Warren said the exhibition makes him think about the tremendous grief parents must have experienced when they lost their children.

"It wasn't easy," he noted. "It's sad, that's what it is. We're all going to turn to dust."

The Merchant House Museum was home to a single family for more than 100 years and still includes the house's original furniture and decorations. However, one thing is missing: postmortem photography. In particular, there were no postmortem photographs of Seabury Tredwell, the patriarch of the family. As a result, photographer Hal Hirshorn. 45, created his own vision of the Tredwell wake scene.

Hirshorn uses an old-fashioned salt-and-gelatin developing technique in his modern-day work. For him, it was a rare opportunity to use his 19th century style in the museum's 19th century environment. Hirshorn's seven photographs taken in the Merchant House Museum show the possible wake scene, including female models posing as Tredwell's mourning widow and daughter.