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As the month of October draws to an end, we enter the festivities of Halloween, Samhain, Allhallowtide, and Día de los Muertos. For some it’s spooky season, a time to delight in the macabre and darker side of life and death (and free candy); for others, it’s a time of religious rites and celebrations, including feasting, prayer and fasting, and remembrance.
Here are a few of our favorite Halloween-related images from IDHH contributors:
John Comstock, Skeleton reader. March 06, 1922. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Courtesy of the West Chicago Public Library District.Mount Greenwood Park (0251) Events – Holiday celebrations – Halloween, 1971. 1971. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records: Photographs. Courtesy of the Chicago Public Library.Halloween party stereo cards, 1899 [page 1]. 1899. Bensenville Community Public Library. Bensenville Historical Collection. Courtesy of the Bensenville Community Public Library.Independence Park (0083) Events – Holiday celebrations – Halloween, undated. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records: Photographs. Courtesy of the Chicago Public Library.
October marks that time of the year when we dress up as ghouls and goblins, decorate our homes with spiderwebs and skeletons, and indulge in all manner of frightening things. As a nod to these spine-chilling 31 days, the IDHH is featuring the fascinating use and art of tombstones and other grave markers. As diverse as the great variety of funerary traditions around the world, grave markers serve not only the utilitarian purpose of demarcating the physical space where an individual might lie, but also reflect the social values and traditions of a specific period or people. Cemeteries and other burial places held great significance from the earliest days, as providing a place for the dead was thought to be an important family obligation. This significance would eventually extend to larger communal graveyards and burial places as inclusion in these spaces became exclusive to community members, often excluding foreigners, criminals, and other unwanted groups.
The tombstones and grave markers within these communal spaces have communicated a number of ideas to visitors over time. As a work of art, the craftsmanship and skill in the construction of the tombstones can be an aesthetic pleasure in its own right. Such artistry leads people to create gravestone rubbings with charcoal and to capture graveyard scenes through painting and photography. The construction and grandiosity of these markers may also impart a sense of prestige or wealth, such as in the image below of Carrie Eliza Getty’s large tomb in Chicago. Of course, tombstones also act as a memorial to previous generations, prompting us to seek out the histories of those buried there, like of the Mabie family and their influential 1840s circus show in Wisconsin. Whether viewed as art, icon, or historical marker, tombstones offer a (spooky) glimpse into the values and customs of those who are no longer with us.
Here are a few of our favorite items featuring tombstones from across the Midwest:
Boy painting tombstone decorations, unspecified location, Central Illinois, 1951 Halloween picture layout. October 29, 1951. Photographed by Gene Smedley. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection 1950 – 1959. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History.Carrie Eliza Getty Tomb and Joseph Medill tombstone, Graceland Cemetery. 1976. Photographed by Charles William Brubaker. University of Illinois Chicago. C. William Brubaker Collection. Courtesy of the University of Illinois Chicago.Tombstone of Uriah T. Douglass and Julia A. Douglass in Oakwood Cemetery. [n.d] Western Illinois University. Digital Image Collection. Courtesy of Western Illinois University.Tombstone. [n.d.] Photographed by Sverre O. Braathen. Illinois State University. Sverre O. Braathen Circus Photo Collection. Courtesy of Illinois State University.Two veterans looking at tombstone of David A. Strother, first African American to cast a vote in the United States, El Paso, IL, 1954. May 28, 1954. Photographed by Ann Broder. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection 1950 – 1959. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History.Scott tombstone Scott’s Cemetery 2002. 2002. Photographed by John Hallwas. Western Illinois University. Digital Image Collection. Courtesy of Western Illinois University.
Happy Halloween from the IDHH. Tonight we’re staying in and looking back through our most chilling collections from our contributors. If you’re feeling the boundary between this and other worlds thinning tonight, and looking for a little more, we recommend starting with the Cornelia Neltor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection at West Chicago Public Library District. The Cornelia Neltor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection includes over 6000 individual book plates collected over 12 years by Cornelia Neltor Anthony before she donated her collection in 1935. At one point considered the second largest collection, just behind the Library of Congress’, the book plates show the more eerie side of individual book collecting. Used to claim ownership of a book, to both deter book thieves and provide instructions for those who come across lost books. Here among the ex-libris are depictions of reading and what books contain, including dark and stormy nights:
It was a dark and stormy night. Waves and lightning were shaking the castle. From the library of Winward and Hazel Prescot. Designed by Charles William Sherborn. 1911.West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Athony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
Reading by candlelight:
Reading through the night, the pages lit by candlesticks. From the library of Phoebe C. Greeley’s collection, designed by Julia Collins Stohr. 1926. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
or other scenes with archaic and occult moods:
When the storm cleared a full moon rose behind the tower. Book plate from Helen Banks, designed by Charles Searle McDonald, 1922. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
Including fantastic and macabre images of reading:
Goblin turns the page. From the Library of Charles S. Dixwell, designed by G. H. McCall. 1928.West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
Fool’s nightmare. Designed and owned by Dana Willard Stockbridge, 1922.West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
Here come the bats. From L. Jirku’s library, designed by Vaclav Rytir, 1913. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
Book plates pull together the arcane and the scientific, blending what appeals to contemporary readers, including mysticism. These images provide commentary on the purpose of the book, and attitudes people have with reading, including their desires and daydreams. Not all books are spell books, but some spells are to protect them.
A Sator Square embedded in religious and mystic signs and tools. From the library of Henry Van Arsdale, designed by Jay Chambers, 1921. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
These book plates also include a healthy dose of melancholy and death. Pulling from mythic and christian symbolism, and literature itself. The owl symbolizing knowledge, wisdom, magic and skepticism, and the skull as memento mori- the reminder of both death and memory, heighten the fear factor.
The night turned melancholic with my reading, “in all things terrible, love brings trouble and sadness”. Designed and owned by Georges Goury. C.1923. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
At the end of the night my library did not look the same, and reminded me all the while of what’s to come. From the Library of Dr. Herbert D. Mandelbaum, designed by Walter M. Aikmen, 1917. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
The owl was still there. From the Library of Theodore Lund, designed by Anne M. Danielsen. C. 1949. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
But looked different too. From the Library of Irene Andrews, designed by J.W. Jameson. 1932. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.
The Illinois Digital Heritage Hub celebrates Halloween and the month of October with paintings from the International Collection of Child Art (ICCA) provided by one of our newest partners, Illinois State University. The ICCA features two-dimensional art in many different media created by children around the world. More information on the ICCA can be found on ISU’s ICCA website..
The images featured from this collection are from the 1960s but are so relatable that they could be contemporary and feature costumed kids trick-or-treating, a haunted house complete with ghosts, skeletons, and a graveyard, pumpkins, bats, and black cats, a costume party, and a witch on her broomstick.
As historical artifacts, the paintings demonstrate how old and enduring some of Halloween’s most iconic images and traditions are with perhaps only the hair and clothing styles of some of the children in the paintings hinting at the works’ ages. The artists range from ages 9 and 12 and would be in their 50s and 60s today.
Halloween Fun. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
Halloween Ghosts. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
I Go to a Party. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
On Halloween Night. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
The Mean Queen of Halloween. 1968. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
