[IP] no relative -- Farber Gravestone Collection Goes Online
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003 13:45:39 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Farber Gravestone Collection Goes Online
Dave:
This is for you - though you may want to pass it on to IP! :-)
Cheers
Brian
===
The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is
copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the
permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at
http://www.eogn.com.
Farber Gravestone Collection Goes Online
The following is an announcement from the American Antiquarian Society:
Worcester, Mass. & San Francisco - Oct. 29, 2003--A unique collection of
historic gravestones has found a new resting place online. The grave
markers, which are subject to vandalism and deterioration, have been
preserved in photographs and are now available on the Internet for the
entire world to pay its respects by examining and appreciating these
extraordinary objects.
More than 13,500 images documenting the sculpture of more than 9,000
gravestones, most of which were made prior to 1800, make up the Farber
Gravestone Collection. The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) converted the
photographic collection to digital form, and now, with help from David
Rumsey's Cartography Associates, a digital publishing company, this unique
collection is available for free public access online.
"We are thrilled to have the Farber Gravestone Collection online, so people
have the opportunity to freely explore the rich early history of our
country and its founders, many of whom are memorialized in the grave
markers that make up this fascinating collection," says AAS President Ellen
Dunlap.
The Farber Gravestone Collection reflects the work of the late Daniel
Farber of Worcester, Massachusetts, and his wife, Jessie Lie Farber, who
photographed historic gravestones for more than 20 years. The collection
can be found online at http://www.davidrumsey.com/farber/. Others whose
work is incorporated into the collection include Harriette Merrifield
Forbes, who worked in the 1920s mainly in Massachusetts, and Dr. Ernest
Caulfield, who documented Connecticut grave markers.
These gravestones, America's earliest form of sculpture, are a significant
form of artistic expression and serve as precious records of biographical
information. Now subject to vandalism and deterioration from the
environment, the photographic records help preserve a perspective of our
nation's history.
In a description she wrote of the collection, Jessie Lie Farber said the
digital images of the gravestones show "the sternness of the Puritan
seventeenth century, replaced by the 'Age of Reason' of the eighteenth
century, and that in turn replaced by the nineteenth-century's
extravagance, love of nature, and free expression of sentiment. The
twentieth century, punctuated by two world wars and a depression, is by
comparison secular, straight-forward and business-like. Death has become
more distant."
Map collector David Rumsey, owner of Cartography Associates and a member of
the AAS Council, says the unique nature and rich history contained within
the collection inspired him to donate the resources needed to bring it to
the Internet. Rumsey's own historic map collection is available for free
public review online, and he has supported Internet access to other
important cultural heritage resources, including a collection of historic
Japanese maps from the East Asian Library at Berkeley.
"In many ways the grave markers are similar to maps because they combine
historical events and artistic expression, and they also embody location
because they are about places," Rumsey says of his fascination with the
collection.
The collection provides some insight into the private lives of historical
figures, such as Paul Revere, Sr., the father of the legendary silversmith
who warned of the coming British. Upon viewing this grave marker and
rechecking historical facts, one quickly realizes that Paul Revere, Sr.,
never knew of his son's contribution to our nation's history, having died a
year before his son's well-known ride. The collection also confirms that
John "Grizzly" Adams is not a work of fiction. He died in 1860, and a
carving of a hunter with a bear appears on his marble gravestone where he
is interred in Charlton, Massachusetts.
Many of the early grave markers give evidence of our past by relating
stories of death by such means as disease, falling from a horse, fording a
river, raising a barn, being cast away in a storm or slain by Indians.
John Stockbridge's death in 1768 was documented as "sudden, premature,
awfull (sic) & violent, providentially occasioned by the fall of a tree."
But in case those paying their respects misunderstood the epitaph, the
marker also contains an illustrated carving -- presumably of Stockbridge --
showing a tree limb striking his head.
The data accompanying the photographs in the online collection includes the
name and death date of the deceased, the location of the stone, and
information concerning the stone material, the iconography, the
inscription, and -- when known -- the carver.
Like the award-winning David Rumsey Map Collection, Los Angeles-based Luna
Imaging's (http://www.lunaimaging.com) Insight software is being used to
allow Web viewers to experience this unique collection of historic
gravestones in a revolutionary way. Using Insight, users can zoom in, pan
and do side-by-side comparisons of grave markers simultaneously. Users can
save groups of images to create their own customized collections. They also
can crop or magnify areas of gravestones that otherwise would be difficult
to decipher, and discover details that reflect artistry, culture, theology,
precision and history.
The launch of the Farber Collection online reflects AAS's commitment to use
technology to make historic resources more widely available. This is in
keeping with the tradition of the Society, one of the first research
libraries to use microfilm to preserve and provide wider access to
important historic works.
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) is an independent research library
and learned society founded in 1812 in Worcester, Massachusetts. The
library's collections document the life of America's people from the
colonial era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Collections include
some three million books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, broadsides,
manuscripts, music, children's literature, graphic arts, genealogy and
local histories. The Society is located online at
http://www.americanantiquarian.org.
Cartography Associates (CA), founded in 1996 by map collector David Rumsey,
promotes the distribution of digital facsimiles both in print and
electronic media. Specializing in both primary source documents and
cutting-edge technology, CA (http://www.davidrumsey.com) is committed to
developing tools that integrate cataloging with visual images on the
Internet. CA's vision is to offer users the best of both worlds: the
powerful searching, access, and user functionality made possible by
technology, combined with the visual beauty, technical mastery and
intellectual richness of original source materials.
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
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