AGS Annual Conference (June 23 – 27, 2004)
Every year in June, the Association for Gravestone Studies holds its annual conference and members meeting. Last year, it was held in Poultney, VT, and this year it took place at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT, where the Danbury Historical Society has been doing quite a bit to fix up its old cemeteries. In the past, AGS has held conferences in Savannah, GA and New Orleans.
This was the second AGS conference for me. Last year, I was a new member and went on AGS’ student scholarship. Being new, traveling alone, and not knowing anyone there (also suffering from illness all weekend long) I was pleasantly surprised to find a friendly bunch of people. By the end of that conference, I felt more at ease (except for my lingering illness). This year, I was greeted by many familiar faces and was accompanied by people I’ve associated with during the year including Ruth Brown of the Connecticut Gravestone Network and Dr. Cynthia Toolin, another CGN member, as well as David Polito from Grave Images t-shirts and Sabrina Selbridge who sells gravestone greeting cards. Also, I was in better health this year. J
So what do taphophiles (lovers/admirers of cemeteries) talk about when they get together during a conference? Why, gravestones, of course! And there was a lot to do, including workshops, lectures, and tours. The conference went from Wednesday until Sunday, but I only attended three days because of finances and time constrictions with my job. Also, I missed many of the late night lectures because I did not stay over night…I drove two hours to Danbury every morning and two hours back every night. The drive-time, combined with all the walking at the cemeteries every day, exhausted me.
On Thursday, I attended a photography workshop at nearby Wooster Cemetery. It’s a big Victorian style place with mostly Victorian stones, but many dating back to the 1700s and with a newer, modern section. Of course, I took a great deal of pictures here. (Incidentally, I shot almost ten rolls of film on the entire three day trip…that’s a lot of gravestones!)
Other workshops included a conservation workshop, where they cleaned and repaired gravestones. And the other was “Rescuing the Abandoned Cemetery” led by Ruthie of CGN. Her group cleaned a long forgotten and neglected cemetery. Later in the evening, we had a reception and then dinner. There are always lectures and late-night sessions at every conference, but I did not attend that evening as I was tired and looking at a long ride home.
The next day was the bus tours. I signed up for the Colonial/Victorian tour which included stops at Evergreen Cemetery, Grove Street Cemetery and the Center Church Crypt. All these places were in New Haven. For me, it was the highlight of the whole trip. The bus went out to the sites by driving through Derby and Orange. Charlie, a historian from VT, was born and raised in this area, and as he sat in back of me on the bus, he told me some interesting things about the towns.
Evergreen Cemetery was awesome! It’s a large place with many different-era stones. The general manager of the place, Dale Fiore, had a nice set-up for us to take refreshments after our tour. He was so cool! When I couldn’t find a particular grave, he had a grounds keeper drive me directly to it in a golf cart. And he gave us permission to tour the crematorium…only a couple of us took him up on the offer. He even let me take a picture of the ovens (but not the body boxes in the waiting area…out of respect for the dead and their families). I also bought a book called “Death…A Practical Guide to the Choices That Lie Beyond.” It’s a very handy packet of information in regards to funerals, cremation, Living Wills, estate planning and many other death-planning topics. One of the authors was present to sign the book.
The whole cemetery was immaculate and the stones were in beautiful condition. The cemetery offers a brochure with a map of all the interesting and famous burial plots. I found the allegedly haunted grave of Mary Hart, also known as the legendary Midnight Mary, which bears the epitaph “The people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away.” Oooo…spooky. And I paid my respect at Louis Lassen’s plot, he who invented the first hamburger. His luncheon stand, Louis’ Lunch, in New Haven is still operating to this day. This is a cemetery I will definitely return to!
We then headed into the heart of New Haven to Grove Street Cemetery, where our tour guide Gray Williams, took half of us over to Center Church Crypt, and then returned us to Grove Street so we could tour that while he took the other half of the group to the church. Center Church is the First Congregational Church (located on the city green) where New Haven’s founder, John Davenport, preached. Behind the alter is a beautiful, large Tiffany glass window of Davenport sermonizing to his followers.
The big draw to the church is the crypt in the basement. The city green was originally the town burial ground. When the current church was built, a law was passed stating that the gravestones and plots could not be moved. But for political reasons, it was an excellent place to put the church. What to do? How about building the church ON TOP of the gravestones? And that’s what they did. In the basement are all the stones (and graves) of the original burial ground. Since that time, the stones in the original burial ground (but NOT the graves) have been moved to Grove Street Cemetery. Meanwhile, the stones and graves in the basement of the church have remained right where they are. Having a roof over their heads have kept the stones in excellent condition. But I wonder what the residents of New Haven might think if they realized they were walking (and playing, riding, sunning, etc) over actual graves, since they were never removed from the green?
At the Grove Street Cemetery, there are many famous graves including Eli Whitney and Theophilus Eaton, first governor of the New Haven Colony. All the stones that were on the original New Haven Green are lined up against the far wall. And the cemetery itself is loaded with some beautiful Victorian area markers. I spent many rolls of film in that place alone.
The tours ended and we all headed back to WCSU to rest and clean-up before dinner. After dinner as always, there were several lectures of interest that I’m glad I stayed around to hear. J. Joseph Edgette gave a talk on flags and banners in mortuary art. I’ve sat in on this man’s lectures before and I’m very impressed with his research. The other talk was on mourning quilts as given by CGN member Cynthia Toolin. It’s good to see AGS letting other thanatology (the study of death and dying) related subject matter into the lectures rather than keeping it strictly gravestones. Cindy gave an interesting speech and brought samples of antique mourning quilts she had. When I asked her where she got them, she proclaimed “E-Bay!” which the audience responded to with enthusiasm. It seems the nature of collecting and researching has change quite a bit with the arrival of on-line auctions. I know MY collecting habits have intensified because of E-Bay.
Saturday’s events involved all-day lecture sessions on various topics. The day is split up into four sessions with two to four lectures to choose from. These programs cover stories, histories and projects, and how the research and projects were conducted. I missed the first session because it was early in the morning and didn’t get there in time. Too bad…one of the more interesting morning programs was a history of King Philip’s War as researched through graveyards and markers. I did make the second session though! The most fascinating (to me) lecture was about postcard and ephemera collecting as conducted by Mr. Edgette and his partner Richard A. Sauers. I’m an avid collector of New England cemetery postcards and unusual New England postcards, as well as funeral, mortuary and other death-related ephemera.
The afternoon session saw me missing another interesting lecture, this one on white bronze markers (also known as zinc markers). These molded, grey-blue metal markers are all over the northeastern part of the US. I find them very pretty and would like to know more about their history. Instead, I was side-tracked by a stone carving demonstration by Karin Sprague. She is one of a few hand-carvers in the US. She gave people the opportunity to try their hands at it, so I sat myself down and gave it a shot. It’s not as easy as you think, although she complimented me on my ability to handle tools well. Nothing like getting stone dust on my fancy black dress. :-/
The last lecture I went to was on researching ancestry in cemeteries. I am not really into genealogy, but the skills needed for it are also used in history research, and I can always use a few pointers. After the sessions, there was a short break while people got ready for the evening events which included the awards reception, banquet, and annual meeting. The Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award is given in recognition of exceptional service to the field of gravestone studies. This year’s nomination went to Helen Sclair of Chicago, also known as "The Cemetery Lady," for her tireless work as a “cemetery activist.” Seems that Chicago has a lot of developers buying up every piece of available land to build on, including old forgotten cemeteries and burial grounds. Ms. Sclair’s work has been keeping them from desecrating these places. Good for her!
At the banquet, I shared a table with Ruthie, David, Sabrina and her daughter, Tags, a fellow named John (a re-enactor dressed as a 19th century mid-western undertaker), another cool lady named Marianne, and Dr. Fred Meli, a archeologist from Rhode Island, who did a Sunday morning lecture entitled “The Fascination with New England Vampire Graves: A Geographical Socio/Cultural Phenomenon.” Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go, but we did talk a bit and he is friends with Michael Bell (Food for the Dead author). During the dinner, there was last minute bidding on the silent auction (at least it was suppose to be silent...but not with our group. We were the rowdiest table there!). I won a book on Litchfield County cemeteries and a hand-carved wooden box with skeletons on it. It now sits on my dresser at home as a container for my hair accessories. After the awards banquet, there was the annual AGS meeting, and then on to the evening lectures. I left shortly after that.
For those of you who are taphophiles (or wish to be), AGS is a good place to start. Next year’s conference will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At this time, I don’t know if I’ll be attending as finances may be tight (am planning on attending grad school next year), but it sounds like a good time. If I miss next year, I hear the following year’s conference will be in Pennsylvania. J