The Seed and the Story for November 2, 2011: Rest in Peace Exhibit on Death and Dying in the Ozarks

From the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History

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      Rituals to honor the dead are a fundamental part of the human experience.  Here in the Yell County and River Valley, funerals, visitations, and Decoration Days are just a few of the traditions we observe that pay homage to the deceased and acknowledge a family’s loss.  A photo exhibit currently on display at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale examines the history of regional funeral and death rituals in the Ozark Mountains through the lens of a lesser-discussed tradition: mortuary photographs.  Entitled “Rest in Peace,” the exhibit features black and white photos of burials and grave side services, still born infants surrounded by flowers, shots of decorated graves mounded with flowers, and portraits of family members in mourning clothing.  The images are tender and moving in their depictions of human fragility.

      The images might appear unusual to some in this age where our sick often die in hospitals and professionals take care of everything from post mortem care to grave digging.  While our medical advancements have certainly not saved us from the loss of family and friends, we have been able, to some degree, to remove ourselves from much of the physical process surrounding death and dying.  This exhibit features a time when death was less hidden.  The introduction to the exhibit explains it this way: “In some ways, our ancestors were closer to the realities of death a century ago than we are today. Because many of them lived with their extended family in small communities, without access to hospitals and funeral homes, they saw all phases of dying and death. They took care of the ill and prepared the deceased’s body. They made funeral clothes and sat with the corpse before burial. They built the coffin and dug the grave. They grieved with family and friends and memorialized their loved ones.”  While many of us sit with the dying, seldom do we help dig the grave or dress the body of a loved one or friend. 

One of the most striking photos shows a group of family members in Kingston, Arkansas lovingly placing the lid on the coffin of their loved one after the visitation had ended.  Abby Burnett, a historian who helped with research for the exhibit, believes that in an age where few people had cameras it’s telling that they were often used to photograph the dead.  Mourning was, to a large degree, a communal activity, she explains, not something to be hidden.  “What I learned as I researched is how much we’ve gotten away from a practice that, at one time, involved everyone. Even small children played a part,” she explained. One of the more touching photos from the exhibit shows four young girls posing beside a flower-mounded grave.  The caption explains that young children would often walk in procession behind the coffin, even serve as pallbearers.   This is certainly different from our modern response of increasingly shielding the younger generation from concepts of death, often excluding them from our communal rituals for saying goodbye.  

      The exhibit “Rest In Peace” will be on display the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History through December  17^th.  The Shiloh Museum is home to an extensive photo collection depicting of life in the Ozarks and features regularly rotating exhibits.  They can be found online at www.shilohmuseum.org. 

I’d love to hear your memories of such topics here in the Yell County area.  Do you have a story to share?  Email me at the contact link above or leave a comment below.  Thanks so much for reading.   

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