“The Re-Remembering”
{Textile, Print & Embroidery Installation}
Funerary cards were a common tradition in the Victorian 19th century. They were often passed out to special friends and families as reminders of the funeral service or burial so their beautiful ornate qualities could continue to be enjoyed and viewed on the mantelpiece and the passed person remembered.
The papercut funeral card in the center of the black frame is for a George Palmer, a book binder, who died, age 33, in 1874
of consumption or tuberculosis in Philadelphia.
On the back it reads ‘My Father’.
Although water damaged and almost lost, his name and funeral details are just enough readable for him to be revealed to us, 150 years later.
After purchasing this card from a collector, I wondered if I could build a picture of his life. Could George Palmer be re-remembered?
Using Ancestry.com I was able to build a picture of his life as seen
in the records before you.
View the records more closely. Join me in the ‘re-remembering’.
I feel that our newfound obsession with family history research and DNA is our ‘Western’ way of connecting to and honoring our ancestors.
It also fascinates me though that we are only able to catch glimpses of George’s life from the official records left behind. We will never know what he was really like as a person. We can only intimate his life from these records.
I wonder what records of our life will be available 150 years from now?