South Shore Genealogical Society

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PO BOX 396
Norwell, MA 02061
soshoregen@yahoo.com

for the great graphics.

April Meeting

April 9, 2005

Victorian Mourning Customs

Susan Galligan, Speaker

1:30 p.m. John Curtis Free Library, Rt. 139, 534 Hanover Street, Hanover, MA (781) 826-2927

Susan Galligan will present a historical overview of American mourning and burial practices from colonial to modern times, focusing on the Victorian era of the mid to late 1800s. She will outline Victorian mourning etiquette dressed in the mourning costume of the era. She will also discuss the history of the funeral home industry and its impact on Victorian society's burial customs. A display of memorial items will include 19th Century mourning jewelry (some made with human hair) and silver casket trimmings.

Susan is a native New Englander. She has had a lifelong interest in American cemeteries and memorial customs. She is a long time member and former trustee of the Association of Gravestone Studies and a current trustee of both Mount Hope Cemetery and the North Attleborough Historical Society.