Memorial print, framed, undated, 1815, 1854

The papers are a collection of American ephemera related to funerals and mourning customs. It consists of a wide variety of mostly late nineteenth century printed materials that document American funerary and mourning practices of the time. The collection includes manuscript bills for grave-digging, burial and gravestones; printed eulogies and elegies; printed invitations to funerals, 1827-1925; printed and pictorial billheads for funeral-related businesses, 1838-1916; printed memorial cards, 1843-1926; tributes to members of a fraternity killed during the Civil War, 1861-1865; death announcements and funeral notices, 1870-1928; trade cards for various funerary businesses; letterheads of companies selling caskets, monuments, and other funeral services, 1880-1902; cemetery deeds; samples and price lists for mourning cards; two photographs of horse-drawn hearses; two lithographed mourning pictures; a mourning badge honoring President William McKinley; and similar items. A few of the items are for mock funerals.