Collections

The Abraham Lincoln assassination book illustrations collection consists of 300 photographic reproductions likely produced during the 1960s of various 19th-century photographs, paintings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, posters, and ephemera related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The Abraham Lincoln assassination book illustrations collection consists of 300 photographic reproductions likely produced during the 1960s of various 19th-century photographs, paintings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, posters, and ephemera related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The collection provides a thorough pictorial history of Lincoln's assassination and its aftermath using photographic reproductions of select period sources. The reproductions are contained in three volumes that have been grouped into five thematic sections: "Assassination" and "Flight and Capture" (Volume 1); "Trial and Execution" and "The Funeral" (Volume 2); and "Funeral at Springfield" (Volume 3). Each thematic section is introduced with a typed index that identifies images and their original sources, which are often listed in abbreviated forms. Image sources that are cited include the Library of Congress (LC), National Park Service (NPS), Chicago Historical Society (CHS), National Archives (NA), New-York Historical Society (NYHS), Lincoln National Life Foundation (LNLF), Illinois State Historical Library (ISHS), Leslie's Illustrated, Harper's Weekly, Claude Simmons (C.S.), and more. While the subject and source of each image are noted, but there is no accompanying text or narrative concerning the events. This collection appears to have been assembled in relation to the prospective publication of an illustrated book on the topic, possibly during the 1960s as a centennial piece. Many of the photographs have chapter and page notations on the back, though there are no specific references to the author or the intended title of the prospective book.

The indexes for each thematic section are as follows:

• Second Inauguration - LC
• Mary Lincoln - LC
• Abraham Lincoln - LC
• Major Henry Rathbone - NPS
• Clara Harris - LC
• Lincoln Closed Coach - CHS
• Points in Downtown Washington - LC
• Ford's Theater from the South - ISHL
• Ford's from the North - ISHL
• Star Saloon Next to Ford's - NPS
• Simulated Night View
• Playbill April 14, 1865 - NPS
• Laura Keene - LC
• Dress Circle - NPS
• Orchestra and Parquette - NPS
• Interior Plan - NPS
• Box 7 and 8 - US Signal Corps
• Box, Orchestra, Dress and Family Circles - ISHL
• Stage and Box - Ford Museum
• Full Stage - NPS
• Diagram of Stage - From Pitman
• Stage with Explanatory Key
• Setee Used in Box - NPS
• Chair in Which Lincoln Sat - NPS
• Plan of Box - From Harper's Weekly, 4-29-65
• Doors Leading to Box - F. Leslie's Ill. News. 5-13-65
• Stick Used to Bar Door - NPS
• Seating Arrangement in Box - NPS
• Booth's Knife and Dagger - NPS
• John Wilkes Booth - NA
• The Deringer - NPS
• Berghaus Sketch from F. Leslie's I.N. 4-29-65
• Treasury Guards Flag - NPS
• Berghaus Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-6-65
• Booth's Spur - NPS
• Booth's Boot - NPS
• Berghaus Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-20-65
• Dr. Charles Leale - LC
• "Borne by Loving Hands" Bersch Painting - NPS
• Simulated Night View of Petersen House
• Room Where the President Died - NPS
• Front Parlor - NPS
• Back Parlor - NPS
• Plan of the Petersen House
• Plan with Key
• Contemporary Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-20-65
• The Alexander Ritchie Painting - LC
• Contemporary Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 4-29-65
• Enlargement from the Bachelder Painting - Brown U.
• Diagram of the Wound - from Eisenschiml
• Seringer with Probe, Bone and Ball - NPS
• The William Seward House - NPS
• Attack on Seward by Paine - from Hawley
• Secretary of State William Seward - LC
• Lewis Paine (Powell) - LC
• Frederick H. Seward - NA
• Paine's Revolver and Dagger - NPS
• Paine (LC) and Sketch from Harper's Weekly
• House Where Lincoln Died Present Day - NPS
• Ford's Theater Years Later - NPS
• William Clark, Occupant of the Rear Bedroom - NPS
• Corp. James Tanner - NYHS
• Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles - NPS
• Secretary of [W]ar Edwin M. Stanton - LC
• The Rev. P. D. Gurley - LC
• Surgeon General J. K. Barnes - NA
• Journalist friend Noah Brooks - ISHL
• Close Friend Dr. Alonzo Henry - ISHL
• Robert Lincoln - ISHL
• Edwin Booth - NA
• John T. Ford - NPS
• Dr. Charles A. Leale - Nat. Lib. Medicine
• Kirkwood House - C.S.
• John Nicolay, Lincoln, John Hay - NPS
• The Fatal Deringer - NPS

• Rear of Ford's - NPS
• Escape from Theatre - NPS
• Area Behind Ford's - NPS
• Assumed Flight Through City - NPS
• Anacostia Bridge - NPS
• Distant View - LC
• Flight to Garrett's Farm - NPS
• Surratt House, Surrattsville - NPS
• Road from Surrattsville - NPS
• Dr. Mudd's House - NPS
• Bedroom at Dr. Mudd's, Dr. Mudd
• Path to Zekiah Swamp - C.S.
• St. Mary's Bryantown - C.S.
• Samuel Cox Residence - NPS
• Bryantown Hotel - NPS
• Thomas Jones - NPS
• Thomas Jones House - NPS
• Old Brawner House, Pt. Tobacco - NPS
• Pages from Booth's Diary - NPS
• Believed Departure Place Potomac - C.S.
• Dents Meadow - NPS
• Crossing the Potomac - Baker's Book
• Mrs. Quesenberry's House - NPS
• Dr. Stewart's Home - C.S.
• Remains of Dock, Port Conway - C.S.
• The William Lucas Cabin - NPS
• Historical Marker - C.S.
• A Controversial Poster - NPS
• Col. Baker, Lt. Baker, L. C. Conger - NYHS
• Lt. E. P. Doherty - NPS
• Col. Lafayette Baker - NA
• Boston Corbett, Lt. Doherty - NA
• Boston Corbett - LC
• Garrett's House - NPS
• Goldman Inn, Bowling Green - C.S.
• Highly Imaginative Sketch
• Contemporary Sketch - NPS
• Plan of Garrett's Yard - NPS
• Removal of Booth from Barn - CHS
• As above - from Frank Leslie's Ill. Mag.
• Booth's Death - from Baker's Book
• Booth's Guns Found in Barn - NPS
• Booth's Revolver - NPS
• Booth's Compass - NPS
• Keys Found on His Body - NPS
• Pictures on His Body - NPS
• " " " "
• " " " "
• Returning With Booth's Body - NPS
• Post-mortem on the Montauk - NPS
• Surious Burial - from F. Leslies Ill. Mag
• Burial of Booth - from Baker's Book
• Paine's Pickaxe - NPS
• Arrest of Paine at Mrs. Surratt's - NPS
• Boston Corbett - Boston U.

• Old Capitol Prison - NPS
• Monitor "Saugus" - NA
• Transferring the Prisoners - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-26-65
• Arrival at the Old Penitentiary - NPS
• Cell Block - Harper's Weekly 7-8-65
• Paine Hooded - F. Leslie's 5-27-65
• Lewis Paine - LC
• George Atzerodt - LC
• David Herold - LC
• Sam Arnold - LC
• Michael O'Luaghlin - LC
• Edmond Spangler - LC
• Dr. Samuel Mudd - NPS
• Mary Surratt - LC
• Sketch Surratt House - NPS
• Mrs. Surratt's House - LC
• Floor Plan Courtroom - from Pitman
• The Conspirators - LC
• Scene at the Trial - Harpers W. 6-10-65
• The Courtroom - LC
• The Military Commission - LC
• The Commission sketch - NPS
• Some Members of the Commission - NA
• " " " - NA
• " " " - NA
• Judge Joseph Holt - NA
• Reverdy Johnson - NA
• Maj. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr. - LC
• Attorneys John Clampitt, William E. Doster
• Benn Pitman - LC
• Louis Wiechmann - NPS
• Booth's Note for Andrew Johnson - NPS
• Spangler's Rope - NPS
• Howard's Livery Stable - LC
• Incriminating Picture from Surratt House - NPS
• Senator James Lane - NA
• Senator Preston King - NA
• President Andrew Johnson - NA
• Anna Surratt - NA
• Remodeled Old Penetentiary - C.S.
• Father Jacob A. Walter - NA
• Prison Scenes from Old Print
• Before the Execution - LC
• The Graves - LC
• Awaiting the Prisoners - LC
• Reading the Orders - LC
• Adjusting the Nooses - LC
• Final Scene - LC
• Mary Surratt Plaque - from Confederate Museum
• Mary Surratt's Grave - C.S.
• Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas - NA
• Tunnel at Fort Jefferson - NPS
• Dr. Mudd Plaque at Fort Jefferson - NPS
• Old and New Gravestones for Dr. Mudd - C.S.
• Spangler's Grave at St. Peter's - C.S.
• Booth's Grave, Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore
• John Wilkes Booth - Mus. City of New York
• John Surratt as a Papal Guard - LC
• Joh[n] Surratt - LC
• Returning John Surratt for Trial - Harper's W. 2-19-67
• David Herold. an early photo - NA

• Abraham Lincoln - LC
• The White House - LC
• The Capitol - LC
• The East Room - NPS
• Services in the East Room - Harper's W. 5-6-65
• Pass Funeral Service Contemporary sketch
• Draped Treasury Building - NYHS
• The Casket - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-13-65
• Washington Hearse - LC
• The Procession - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-6-65
• " "
• The Procession Forming - NPS
• " " - LC
• Turning Into Pennsylvania Ave. - Harper's W. 5-6-65
• The Procession - London Illustrated News
• Route of the Funeral Train - LNLF
• Willie Lincoln - ISHL
• The Funeral Coach - NPS
• Interior of Car - NPS
• At Harrisburg - ISHL
• The State House Harrisburg - CHS
• Train at Harrisburg - LNLF
• The Train at Philadelphia - ISHL
• The Philadelphia Hearse - LNLF
• Independence Hall - from Peterson
• Philadelphia - ISHL
• Philadelphia Scene - ISHL
• The Philadelphia Hearse - CHS
• Scenes at Philadelphia - NA
• " "
• Portion of Train in Railroad Yards - LNLF
• Crossing the Ferry to New York - from Valentine
• Arrival in New York - from Valentine
• The Procession Forming New York - NYHS
• " " " "
• New York City Hall - LNLF
• At the City Hall - LNLF
• The Body at City Hall - ISHL
• New York Procession - ISHL
• " " " "
• The New York Hearse - LC
• Death Certificate - NPS
• Scene at New York - NYHS
• Scenes in New York - from Valentine
• " " " " "
• Notice of Ceremony Lincoln, Illinois - ISHL
• The Arch at Sing Sing - NPS
• After the Procession at Albany - Albany Institute
• Buffalo Hearse - Buffalo & Erie Co. Hist. Soc.
• Procession at Buffalo " " " " "
• " " " " " " " "
• Monument Park Cleveland - CHS
• At Cleveland - CHS
• Scene at Cleveland Contemporary sketch
• Cleveland - LNLF
• Cleveland - LNLF
• Monument Park - LNLF
• At the State House Columbus ISHL
• Procession at Columbus - LNLF
• Funeral Arch Indianapolis - LNLF
• Hearse and Horses Indianapolis - LNLF
• Hearse and Casket Indianapolis - LNLF
• Hearse and Casket Indianapolis - LNLF
• Stop at Michigan City - LNLF
• Typical Smalltown Depot - ISHL
• Train at Chicago Illinois Cent. RR
• Removal of Coffin Chicago Cont. Sketch
• The Chicago Arch - LC
• Chicago Procession - Harper's Weekly 5-27-65
• Entering the City Hall - CHS
• The People at City Hall - CHS
• The Catafalque in City Hall - Harper's W. 5-20-65
• Chicago & Alton Locomotive No. 57. - ISHL
• Railroad Timetable, Chicago to Springfield - ISHL
• Notice of Observance Ilion
• Memorial Paradeat San Francisco - Soc. of Calif. Pioneers
• Memorial Service at Bloomington - CHS
• Services in London, England - London Ill. News May 1865

• The Chicago Delegation - ISHL
• Lincoln Herndon Law Office - Georg Studio
• Illinois State House - ISHL
• The Unused Tomb - ISHL
• Draped Lincoln Home - ISHL
• Draped Lincoln Parlor - ISHL
• Official Pass - ISHL
• Just Completed Catafalque - ISHL
• Second View Catafalque - ISHL
• Filing Into State House - ISHL
• Waiting to Enter - ISHL
• Across from the State House - ISHL
• Filing Past the Catafalque - Harper's Weekly 5-27-65
• Front of Lincoln Home - NPS
• "Old Bob" - ISHL
• Draped House and Horse
• Order of Procession to Oak Ridge - ISHL
• The Borrowed St. Louis Hearse - ISHL
• The Forming Procession - LNLF
• Route of the Procession
• Plan of Oak Ridge - ISHL
• The Gate at Oak Ridge - ISHL
• General View of Oak Ridge - ISHL
• Awaiting the Procession - NYHS
• The Temporary Tomb - ISHL
• The Services - ISHL
• Contemporary Sketch
• Directors of the Monument Association - ISHL
• Closeup of the Vault - ISHL
• Interior of the Temporary Tomb - ISHL
• The Present Tomb - Ill. Inf. Ser.
• Exterior of Present Tomb - Georg Studio
• Mary Todd Lincoln - NPS
• Thomas (Tad) Lincoln - ISHL
• Bishop Simpson - ISHL
• Interior of Catacomb as left by Thieves (From John Carroll Power)
• Funeral Procession Entering Oak Ridge Cemetery - NYHS

The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography consists of over 100,000 images in a variety of formats including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, real photo postcards, stereographs, and mounted and unmounted paper prints. The collection is primarily made up of vernacular photographs of everyday life in Michigan taken by both professional and amateur photographers from the 1840s into the mid-twentieth century. In addition to supporting local history research, the collection has resources for the study of specific events and subjects. Included are images related to lumbering, mining, suburbanization; the industrialization of cities; travel and transportation; the impact of the automobile; the rise of middle-class leisure society; fashion and dress; ethnicity and race; the role of fraternal organizations in society; and the participation of photographers in business, domestic, and social life. The collection is only partially open for research.

The subject contents of different photographic format series within the Tinder collection vary, depending in part upon how each format was historically used, and the date range of that format's popularity. For example, cartes de visite and cased images are most often formal studio portraits, while stereographs are likely to be outdoor views. Cabinet photographs are frequently portraits, but often composed with less formality than the cartes de visite and cased images. The postcards and the mounted prints contain very diverse subjects. The photographers' file contains many important and rare images of photographers, their galleries, promotional images, and the activities of photographers in the field. See individual series descriptions in the Contents List below for more specific details.

Included throughout are images by both professional and amateur photographers, although those by professionals are extant in far greater numbers.

The Mark A. Anderson collection of post-mortem photography contains approximately 1068 items including photographs, ephemeral items, documents, manuscripts, printed items, and realia pertaining to the visual history of death and bereavement between the 1840s and the 1970s. Photographs make up the bulk of the collection.

The Mark A. Anderson collection of post-mortem photography contains approximately 1068 photographs, ephemeral items, documents, manuscripts, printed items, and realia pertaining to the visual history of death and bereavement between the 1840s and the 1970s. Photographs make up the bulk of the collection. Mr. Anderson assembled this collection from dealers, antique shops, and individuals. His motivation stemmed from a desire to document and to provide historical perspective on various end-of-life practices which, in the 20th century, fell into taboo and disfavor.

The majority portion of the photographic items in the collection are neither dated, nor attributed, although approximate dates can often be determined by when particular photographic formats were in use (see timeline at www.graphicatlas.org.). Consequently, the materials have been organized first to accommodate their sizes, formats, and preservation needs, and second to reflect major subject themes present, though scattered, throughout the entire collection. These non-mutually exclusive subjects are as follows:

• Post-mortem portraits
• Post-mortem scenes
• Funeral tableaux
• Funerals and funeral processions
• Floral arrangements and displays
• Memorial cards and sentimental imagery
• Cemeteries and monuments
• Funeral industry
• Mourning attire
• Unnatural death

The first three subjects - post-mortem portraits, scenes, and funeral tableaux - all depict the recently deceased, and so fall into the narrowest definition of a post-mortem photograph. Their distinction into three separate subjects is a partly arbitrary decision, made to break up what would otherwise be a large and unwieldy grouping of photos, but also to roughly shape the order of the collection (post-mortem portraits without décor tended to date earlier chronologically than broader, beautifying scenes).

Post-mortem portraits:

The post-mortem portrait photographs, comprising 251 items in the collection, depict the bodies of dead family members and friends. These images show the deceased, sometimes posed with living family members, and for the most part do not include elements of a larger scene, such as floral arrangements, banners, or other décor.

These portraits include the earliest photographic images in the collection, including 28 cased daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. 78 cabinet card photographs date from the late 1860s to around the turn of the century. Among many notable cabinet cards are two images of Frances Radke, taken and retouched by R. C. Houser, showing her image before and after Houser's post-capture work (3.1 and 3.2). Also of note is a framed crayon enlargement of infant Adelaide Banks by photographer/artist Edward Stuart Tray (26) and a post-mortem carte de visite of an unidentified African American infant taken by photographer S. P. Davis of Danielsonville, Connecticut (4.282u).

Post-mortem scenes:

The post-mortem scene photographs, numbering 155 items in total, are similar to the portraits described above, except that they show the deceased as part of a larger environment, whether in a private home, a funeral home, or out-of-doors. Most of these views are mounted photographic prints from the 1880s to the early decades of the 20th century, frequently centering on the corpse, lying in a casket or coffin, amidst an abundance of floral arrangements, banners or flags, family members or friends, and/or personal belongings. Their caskets are often lined with white cloth.

Many of these images have unique qualities; several examples illustrate the variety of postmortem scenes in the collection. Six photographs by W. Jakubowski and Co. and Jos. Ziawinski, of Detroit, Michigan, include five wedding photographs (of the bride and groom, bridesmaids, and family members) and one post-mortem scene of the wife. She appears to have died within a short time following the marriage; the funeral home scene image contains one of the wedding photographs and a banner marked "Dearest Wife" (18.5-18.10). One mounted photograph depicts a dog, laid on linen, in a homemade casket (14:17). The collection also contains examples of different persons on display in the same funeral home/parlor (e.g. 18.1-18.4). A set of two cabinet card photos of a child in a buggy is accompanied by one of the buggy's metal lanterns (23.1-23.3). Also of note is a photogravure of the 1888 painting "Requiescat" by British artist Briton Rivière showing a dog seated next to its deceased owner (25.2).

Funeral tableaux:

The collection's 35 funeral tableaux photographs show the deceased in an open casket or coffin, typically in front of a church or homestead, with a posed assembly of funeral attendees or mourners. They often show a large group of family and friends, and so are frequently large format prints. Group portraits of this sort were occasionally framed and displayed in the home. Most of the examples in this collection are large prints (many of them mounted), with smaller examples, including a real photo postcard, two snapshots, and one cabinet card. Particular items of note include a framed tableau on the steps of the Church of The Descent of The Holy Ghost in Detroit by Thomas Hoffman (27), a photomontage image of a nun's funeral (28), two tableaux scenes by F. A. Drukteinis taken outside of the same church in Detroit during different seasons and involving the same family (20.12 and 20.15), and three related tableaux scenes (two mounted and one unmounted) involving a presumably Hungarian family that were taken outside of what appears to be a Catholic church in Cleveland, Ohio, during three different funerals (20.16a-20.16c).

Funerals and funeral processions:

The 70 items depicting or pertaining to funeral gatherings show various aspects of the movement of the deceased from the home or funeral home to the cemetery and funeral and burial ceremonies. This group is comprised of real photo postcards (22 items), snapshots (13 items), and a variety of other formats. Examples include an albumen print depicting the Plymouth Church decorated for Henry Ward Beecher's funeral in 1887, and snapshot and postcard photographs of a burial at sea.

Floral arrangements and displays:

Additional documentation of funeral decoration may be found in the collection's 176 still life portraits of floral arrangements and other decorations. A portion of the floral display photographs include pre- or post-mortem photos of the deceased either incorporated into the display or added to the image after printing. One particularly fine example is a large format photograph of a floral arrangement for the funeral of Joshua Turner Mulls; the display included a cabinet card photo of Mr. Mulls and a modified enlargement of the cabinet card. Accompanying the floral arrangement photograph is the cabinet card depicted in the display, with artist's instructions for coloring the enlargement (22.1-22.2).

Memorial cards and sentimental imagery:

The collection includes 105 memorial cards and ephemeral items bearing sentimental imagery. Memorial cards were created as tributes, often displaying birth dates, death dates, and other information about the deceased. Many of these cards include border designs and some bear photographs of the departed. Black-fronted memorial cards gained popularity from 1880 to 1905. Of many interesting examples, the collection includes two examples of memorial cards which haven't yet been personalized (4.306-4.307) and two reflecting World War I-related deaths (4.316 and 4.317). Materials with sentimental imagery include items such as a photograph of an illustration entitled "Momma is in Heaven," a memorial book dedicated to Olive C. Partridge in 1897, and other items.

Note: an advertisement for the Memorial Card Company of Philadelphia is located in the 'Funeral Industry' section of the collection (14.35).

Cemeteries and monuments:

61 photographs, printed items, and realia explicitly pertain to cemeteries, burial markers, or monuments. Some of the cemeteries and monuments are identified, such as the Garfield Memorial at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio (4.1-4.3). The collection includes examples of cemetery-related realia, including an ovular, porcelain headstone photograph (pre-mortem) of the deceased.

Note: cemeteries may be seen as background for many photographs throughout the collection.

The funeral industry:

The Mark A. Anderson collection of post-mortem photography holds a diverse selection of photographs, ephemera, and printed materials related to the business aspects of death, dying, and bereavement. This group contains around 153 items overall, including receipts (1896-1956); various types of advertising materials (including an undertaker's advertising card, a cabinet photograph of the Arbenz & Co. storefront advertising undertaking as a service, fans from a church and the A. C. Cheney funeral home, a thermometer, and other items); and 118 coffin sales photographs (illustrating a massive selection of different casket models offered by the Boyertown Burial Casket Company of Pennsylvania).

Two photograph albums, that of Clarence E. Mapes' furniture store and funeral home and that of the Algoe-Gundry Company funeral home, provide visual documentation of a rural and an urban funeral home (respectively) in Michigan in the first half of the 20th century:

The photo album and scrapbook of Clarence E. Mapes' furniture store and funeral home in Durand, Michigan, dating from ca. 1903-1930, contains interior and exterior photographs of the furniture and undertaker portions of the shop. The album includes photographs of casket showroom display mechanisms; an example of a "burglar proof" metallic vault; a posed photo of the embalmer standing over a man on the embalming table; images of carriage and motorized hearses; business-related newspaper clippings; and various family and vacation photographs. Several prints, dated August 1903, appear to depict the aftermath of the Wallace Brothers Circus train wreck on the Grand Trunk railroad at Durand. Among these photographs are carriage hearses, a horse-drawn cart carrying ten or more oblong boxes (for transportation and perhaps burial of victims of the wreck), a man standing in an alleyway near three stacked boxes, and a large group of persons standing in a largely unearthed section of a cemetery. The Mapes album is accompanied by a C. E. Mapes Furniture advertising fly-swatter.

The Algoe-Gundry Company album dates from ca. 1924 to 1960 and contains (almost exclusively) 8"x10" photographs of this Flint, Michigan, funeral business. The album includes images of the exterior and interior of Algoe-Gundry buildings, hearses, ambulances, and billboard advertisements.

One album was produced ca. 1939 by the Central Metallic Casket Co. of Chicago, Illinois. Titled "Caskets of Character," the album contains images of patented (or soon to be patented) casket designs as well as a printed cross-sectional view detailing the company's "Leak-Proof" Separate Inner Sealer.

Also of interest is funeral director's license granted by the Michigan State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors to Vincent J. George of Fowler, Michigan, in 1938. (25.1)

Mourning attire:

In America, mourning attire tended to follow trends set in Europe. The bereaved wore mourning clothing according to current fashion trends and societal expectations. Mourning clothing styles, often dark-colored and somber, depended on how close the mourner was to the deceased and local societal expectations. Seventeen portrait photographs show men and women wearing mourning attire without the deceased present. This group includes cabinet cards, a 1/9 plate ambrotype of an adult woman, two tintypes, and one carte-de-visite.

Note: persons wearing mourning attire may also be found scattered throughout the other sections of the Mark A. Anderson collection. While most are concentrated in the funeral photographs, mourners are also present in postmortem portraits, postmortem scenes, and cemetery photos.

Unnatural death:

43 photographs (mostly snapshots) depict "unnatural deaths," deaths not caused by age or naturally occurring disease, such as suicides, accidents, murders, and war. The larger portions of the snapshots are mid-20th century police photographs of crime or accident scenes.

Nine Indiana State Police photographs show a train-automobile accident; a group of eight unmarked photos depict the body of woman, apparently violently murdered, at the location of her death and in a morgue; 14 are of a man struck down, beneath a train; two are of a rifle suicide; and the others are of varying accidents. One World War I-era real photo postcard appears to show a man who was shot dead in a foxhole. A stereoscopic card by photographer B. W. Kilburn shows the burial of Filipino soldiers after the Battle of Malolos, Philippine Islands [ca. 1899].

Note: The photograph album/scrapbook of the Clarence E. Mapes furniture and undertakers shop contains several photographs of what appear to be the aftermath of the Wallace Brothers Circus train wreck, Durand, Michigan 1903 (see above description in the 'Funeral Industry' section of this scope and content note).

The Victor Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr., collection contains an assortment of materials including a diary, photograph album, paper files, and a VHS tape, all of which pertain to U.S. Army Air Corp pilot 1st Lt. Victory Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr.’s service in the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron during World War II.

The Victor Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr., collection contains an assortment of materials including a diary, photograph album, paper files, and a VHS tape, all of which pertain to U.S. Army Air Corp pilot 1st Lt. Victory Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr.’s service in the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron during World War II.

The diary (15 x 8.5 cm) contains entries written by Rushfeldt, Jr., during the year of 1941. In the first entry on New Year’s Day, Rushfeldt, Jr., expressed a desire to join either the United States Army or Navy as a pilot and wondered “where I will be next New Years?” After failing his physical service exam with the Navy due to “crooked teeth,” he decided to first finish securing his private pilot’s license before sending applications to the Army Air Corps on January 31. On March 8 1941, Rushfeldt, Jr., attended a physical exam for flying cadets at Fort Snelling where again he was told that they would not “O.K. my teeth” but was instructed to send a plaster dental cast to Washington, D.C. On March 21, he traveled to Abilene, Texas, before heading for San Diego, California by car on March 25. After hitchhiking to Los Angeles on April 4 he subsequently sought job opportunities in the area while staying at the home of a local couple, including applying for a position at the Lockheed Aircraft Co. and interviewing with the Vega Airplane Co., the latter of whom he felt he could’ve obtained employment with “except for the fact that I will probably be drafted soon.” On April 20, Rushfeldt, Jr., began hitchhiking back to Albert Lea, noting stops in Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa before arriving home April 27. On August 12, he recorded having completed his U.S. Army Air Corps physical exam while on August 15 he took his flight test for “Stage C of the secondary C.P.T.” Towards the back of the diary there are several phone numbers and addresses listed for friends and acquaintances as well as a “Brief History of My Flying Course” listing the duration and type (dual or solo) of Rushfeldt, Jr.’s training flights in Albert Lea from October 8 1940 to February 20 1941. Also of note are numerous entries involving women that Rushfeldt, Jr., was dating.

The photograph album (26 x 34 cm) contains approximately 114 images and is string-bound with brown covers. The album begins with a series of photos showing various young women, American servicemen in uniform, and older adults interacting at what appears to be a wedding reception. Subsequent photographs of interest include a portrait of fellow pilot Jerry Smith holding a large camera; images of various aircraft; portraits of various officers identified by pen inscriptions including “Lt. Connely,” “Lt. Everhardt,” “FO Luther,” “Lt. Raymer,” “Lt. Gireau,” “Capt. Lake,” “Lt. Thye,” “Lt. Riddle,” “FO Stone,” “Charles Enoch,” “Lt. Smith,” “Lt. Glenn Jensen,” and numerous photos (including group portraits) of Victor Rushfeldt, Jr.; images of campsites, barracks, and other buildings possibly in Nadzab, New Guinea; several images documenting the wreck of an F-7B aircraft nicknamed “Idle Curiosity” which crash landed on the Biak Island airstrip while Rushfeldt, Jr., was onboard; and several photographs of indigenous Papuans (including pictures of nude women and women breastfeeding animals). Also present are twenty-one images showing painted illustrations on the sides of various aircraft, many of which were designed Cpl. Al G. Merkling. Numerous illustrations involve nude or scantily clad women posing suggestively. Nicknames of documented planes include “The Wango Wango Bird,” “Photo Queen,” “Cherokee Strip,” “TS Sympathy Remembrance,” “I’ll Be Around,” “American Beauty,” “Hangover Haven,” “Little Joe,” “Round Trip,” “Liberty Belle,” “Patched Up Piece,” “Ready Willing and Able,” “Idle Curiosity,” “Pappy’s Passion,” “Sweet Sixteen,” “St. Louis Blues,” “V…-Sure Pop,” “The Rip Snorter,” “Bourbon Boxcar,” “Ole’ Tomato,” “Mission Belle,” and “Tail Wind.”

The paper files include an envelope of informational materials from the “Reunion Project Office b-24/50th Anniversary” related to the planning of a 1989 reunion event; an overseas document file case containing three souvenir buttons from the first and second 20th Combat Mapping Squadron reunion events in 1982 and 1984, several empty letter envelopes addressed to Rushfeldt, Jr., a register of Rushfeldt, Jr.’s vaccinations and other medical data from December 28 1941 to Jan 27 1945, and an official notice from March 7 1943 declaring that Rushfeldt, Jr., qualified as “Marksman” with a .45 caliber pistol after achieving a score of 106; and a vertical file containing numerous materials related to 20th Combat Mapping Squadron reunions, events, newsletters, and other documents, including a draft of “A Pictorial History of the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron, 6th Photo Group that Served so Honorably in the Southwest Pacific Area During WW II” consisting of photocopies of images donated by former squadron members and compiled by Maj. Lawrence E. Thibault, Sr.

The VHS tape purportedly contains footage of the "Idle Curiosity" crash on the Biak Island airstrip. Rushfeldt, Jr., was aboard this aircraft at the time of the crash.