"Final Respects"-a Rogers Historical Museum's popular exhibit
- Ongoing: until Saturday, November 7, 2009
- Tuesday: 10:00am
- Wednesday: 10:00am
- Thursday: 10:00am
- Friday: 10:00am
- Saturday: 10:00am
- Where: Rogers Historical Museum, Rogers
- Cost: Free
- Age limit: All ages
Have you ever wondered why Victorian women wore so much black or been curious about why funeral directors call their businesses "homes?" The answers to these and many similar questions can be found beginning September 5 as "Final Respects," one of the Rogers Historical Museum's most popular exhibits, returns to this community.
The mourning and funeral customs of our 19th century ancestors expressed their deepest values about the significance of the individual, the role of the family, the acceptability of displaying wealth and position, and the importance of respectability. Although many of those customs have vanished, vestiges remain with us today, reminders of a time when death was dramatized and sentimentalized and mourning was ritualized and public.
"Final Respects: Dealing With Death in the Victorian Era" explores these themes through photographs, documents, and objects, including mourning attire. Portions of "Final Respects" explore such topics as Victorian attitudes towards death, mourning etiquette, placing a house in mourning, a proper burial, the state funeral, and the development of cemeteries in the 19th century. The exhibit will be accompanied by "A House in Mourning" theme tours of the Museum's 1895 historic house.
A considerable part of the exhibit is devoted to the conventions of mourning dress. So elaborate were these conventions that by the 1880s there was even a prescribed costume for a second wife in mourning for her husband's first wife's parent! Although the wearing of mourning dress declined after the 1910s, many examples of mourning clothing and accessories survive to remind us of a time when "to mourn" meant not only to feel grief, but also to wear its visible symbols.
The exhibit also looks at the business of death. The 19th century saw the emergence of a new profession, that of funeral director. The conventions surrounding death also meant that the provision of mourning fabrics, accessories, stationery, and other such items were profitable businesses. Bereaved families also purchased flowers, cemetery plots, and monuments.
"Final Respects" will remain on view through November 7. On October 30 and 31 the Museum will offer some "Haunting History for Halloween" with candlelight tours of the Hawkins House in mourning from 7 to 9 p.m. both days and a full day of programs about mourning and funeral customs from 10 to 4 on Saturday, October 31. These events will be free of charge.
The Rogers Historical Museum is located at 322 South Second Street, at the corner of Second and Cherry in historic downtown Rogers. Hours are 10 to 4, Tuesday through Saturday, and admission is free. For more information on this and other exhibits and programs, call 621-1154 or visit www.rogersarkansas.com/museum.
This event was posted Sept. 1, 2009 and last updated Sept. 1, 2009
