Wistariahurst Museum announces Victorian Sentiments, a presentation on mourning jewelry and grave iconography on October 27th at 5:30pm. This presentation corresponds with the museum’s current exhibit Memento Mori on view in the gallery through November 3rd. This exhibit features historic items relating to mourning from the collections of Wistariahurst and the Longmeadow Historical Societly.

Jewelry and gravestones may seem to be an unlikely combination, but both reflect society’s beliefs about death and mourning in similar ways. Though we may identify mourning jewelry and sentimental gravestone symbolism with the Victorian period, their roots and usage go back to antiquity: looking back just a few hundred years reveals dramatic changes in how people thought about death. Joanne and Dennis Picard of Westfield, Massachusetts, will share images and stories about the changes in our area with the coming of garden cemeteries and the formal ritualization of mourning.

This presentation will be held in Wistariahurst Museum’s Music Room on Tuesday, October 27th, 5:30-6:30pm. Admission is donation-based, with a sliding scale of $1 – $10.
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