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Topic: Cemeteries

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Subject: Cemeteries
Date Posted: 9/11/2009 2:18 PM ET
Member Since: 6/26/2006
Posts: 2,585
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I'm looking for recommendations on good books relating to cemeteries, grave carving, death customs and things of that nature.

I'm a member of a few local cemetery commissions, and am contemplating on writing my own book on New England cemeteries, and am always looking for new research material.

I already have the following books in my collection:

  • The Victorian Cemetery - Sara Rutherford
  • The Victorian Undertaker - Trevor May
  • Silent City On A Hill - Blanche M. G. Linden
  • Maine's Coastal Cemeteries - Karen Batignani
  • Cincinnati's Cemeteries: The Queen City Underground - Kevin Grace
  • North Burial Ground, Providence Rhode Island - John Sterling
  • Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral home in 20th Century America - Gary Landerman
  • The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Towards Death, 1799-1833 - Gary Landerman
  • Coventry, Rhode Island Historic Cemeteries - John Sterling
  • Exeter, Rhode Island Historic Cemeteries - John Sterling
  • From Slate to Marble 1770-1870: Gravestone Carving Traditions in Eastern Massachusetts - James Blachowicz
  • Rest in Peace: A History of American Cemeteries - Meg Greene
  • The Victorian Celebration of Death - James Curl
  • The American Resting Place: 400 years of history through our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds - Marilyn Yalom
  • A Graveyard Preservation Primer - Lynette Strangstad
  • Gravestones of Early New England, and the Men Who Made Them, 1653-1800 - Harriette Merrifield Forbes
  • Graveyards of North Kingstown, Rhode Island - Althea McAleer
  • The Burying Place of Governor Arnold - Alice Brayton
  • Beautiful Death: The Art of the Cemetery - David Robinson
  • Cemeteries and Gravemarkers - Richard Meyer
  • New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead - Florence Mason
  • Going Out in Style: The Architecture of Eternity - Douglas Keister
  • Soul in the Stone: Cemetery Art from Americas Heartland - John Gary Brown
  • Graven Images: New England Stone Carving and its Symbols, 1650-1815 - Allen Ludwig
  • Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography - Douglas Keister
  • The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History - David Charles Sloane
  • The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture and Social Change - David E. Stannard
  • Saving Graces: Images of Women in European Cemeteries - David Robinson

Any other recommendations would be greatly welcomed.  I keep doing searches for cemeteries on PBS, but since it's such an odd subject, I never come up with much!

I think I've got just about everything on New England cemeteries, but I am really interested in expanding my knowledge base to outside of my Puritan Death-Heads and Victorian angels.