no relative -- Farber Gravestone Collection Goes Online

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003 13:45:39 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
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 () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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