Urban historian Kenneth Jackson (The Encyclopedia of New York) and photographer Camilo Vergara collaborate to present a fascinating and beautiful examination of the American cemetery.

Beyond Grief explores high-style funerary sculptures and their functions during the turn of the twentieth century. Many scholars have overlooked these monuments, viewing them as mere oddities, a part of an individual artist's oeuvre, a detail of a patron's biography, or local civic cemetery history. This volume considers them in terms of their wider context and shifting use as objects of consolation, power, and multisensory mystery and wonder. Art historian Cynthia Mills traces the stories of four families who memorialized their losses through sculpture. Henry Brooks Adams commissioned perhaps the most famous American cemetery monument of all, the Adams Memorial in Washington, D.C. The bronze figure was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who became the nation’s foremost sculptor. Another innovative bronze monument featured the Milmore brothers, who had worked together as sculptors in the Boston area. Artist Frank Duveneck composed a recumbent portrait of his wife following her early death in Paris; in Rome, the aging William Wetmore Story made an angel of grief his last work as a symbol of his sheer desolation after his wife’s death. Through these incredible monuments Mills explores questions like: Why did new forms--many of them now produced in bronze rather than stone and placed in architectural settings--arise just at this time, and how did they mesh or clash with the sensibilities of their era? Why was there a gap between the intention of these elite patrons and artists, whose lives were often intertwined in a closed circle, and the way some public audiences received them through the filter of the mass media? Beyond Grief traces the monuments' creation, influence, and reception in the hope that they will help us to understand the larger story: how survivors used cemetery memorials as a vehicle to mourn and remember, and how their meaning changed over time.

Historic Congressional Cemetery dates from the days when Washington, DC, was a burgeoning city on the edge of a malarial swamp. The stones--sandstone tablets with colonial calligraphy, ornate Victorian statues, 20th-century art nouveau carvings, and contemporary markers in shapes as strange as picnic tables and upended cubes--are a time line of the city. The most distinctive stones are 171 cenotaphs; large cubes designed by Capitol architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe from the same sandstone used in the Capitol. They are found nowhere else. The men and women buried under those stones led lives of beauty, courage, struggle, cunning, leadership, and humor--in short, the stories of American history.

This volume was first published by the American Battle Monuments Commission in 1938 and was republished by CMH in 1992 to commemorate the American Expeditionary Forces' seventy-fifth birthday. American Armies and Battlefields in Europe, a facsimile edition to commemorate the seventy-fifth birthday of the American Expeditionary Forces, is a unique, illustrated volume that captures the AEF's lessons of battle during World War I. Based on the series of battlefield tours conducted for staff officers at General John J. Pershing's headquarters, the operational chapters describe the military situation, giving detailed accounts of actual fighting supported by maps and sketches, and a summary of events and service of combat divisions. Topical chapters on the Services of Supply, the U.S. Navy, military cemeteries and memorials, and other interesting and useful facts conclude the narrative. For scholars and students of the Great War, as well as veterans and their descendants wishing to find battle sites of long ago, this guidebook remains the most authoritative and easily usable source for visitors to the AEF's battlefields. The American Battle Monuments Commission, a small independent agency established by Congress in 1923 at the request of General John J. Pershing, is the guardian of America's overseas commemorative cemeteries and memorials. Its mission is to honor the service, achievements, and sacrifice of the United States armed forces. Related products: Check out our World War I resources collection here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/world-war-i Other products produced by the U.S. Army, Center of Military History can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/center-military-history-cmh

Provides information on cemetery research covering such topics as locating graves and cemeteries, accessing death records, searching a cemetery, and American burial customs.

"In early June 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia launched a summer campaign that brought horrific war to the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania ... On November 19, 1863, the dedication of a new Soldiers National Cemetery marked a critical point in American history. From its conception, the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg embodied a fitting tribute to those who gave their last full measure of devotion to a grateful nation. Since that fateful summer of 1863, the cemetery has expanded into a place of memoralization for Americans spanning generations ..."--Back cover

Mount Olivet was the second Catholic cemetery developed by the Mount Elliott Cemetery Association. Now surrounded by city, Mount Olivet was nestled in the countryside when it opened in 1888. Directions in 1900 instructed visitors to reach the cemetery via train or electric streetcar. Round-trip was 35¢ on the Grand Trunk Railroad. The varied backgrounds of those buried in the consecrated ground at Mount Olivet reflect the surge in immigration to the city that spanned the early 20th century. Belgian, German, Italian, and Polish cultural, business, and political leaders are buried here. Each group clustered near its own Catholic parish and had its own funeral directors, photographers, and florists: Our Lady of Sorrows (Belgian), St. Joseph (German), San Francesco (Italian), and St. Albertus (Polish). Funeral directors included Charles Verheyden (Belgian), Frank J. Calcaterra (Italian), and Joseph Kulwicki (Polish), who officiated at the first burial at the cemetery. Military burials range from Civil War soldiers to those who fought in Vietnam. The cemetery is graced with beautiful marble and granite statuary and unique mausoleums designed by noted architects and featuring stained-glass windows. The Mount Elliott Cemetery Association provides perpetual care for Mount Olivet Cemetery and four sister cemeteries: Mount Elliott, Resurrection, All Saints, and Guardian Angel.