Books by Joy Giguere
From the University of Michigan Press site: Rural cemeteries—named for their expansive, picturesq... more From the University of Michigan Press site: Rural cemeteries—named for their expansive, picturesque landscape design rather than location—were established during the middle decades of the nineteenth century in the United States. An instant cultural phenomenon, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was the nation’s first such burial ground to combine the functions of the public park and the cemetery, becoming a popular place to picnic and go for strolls even for people who didn’t have graves to visit. It sparked a nationwide movement in which communities sought to establish their own cities of the dead.
Pleasure Grounds of Death considers the history of the rural cemetery in the United States throughout the duration of the nineteenth century as not only a critical cultural institution embedded in the formation of community and national identities, but also as major sites of contest over matters of burial reform, taste and respectability, and public behavior; issues concerning race, class, and gender; conflicts over the burial of the Civil War dead and formation of postwar memory; and what constituted the most appropriate ways to structure the landscape of the dead in a modern and progressive society. As cultural landscapes that served the needs of the living as well as the dead, rural cemeteries offer a mirror for the transformations and conflicts taking place throughout the nineteenth century in American society.
From the University of Tennessee Press Spring 2014 Catalog Entry:
Prior to the nineteenth centur... more From the University of Tennessee Press Spring 2014 Catalog Entry:
Prior to the nineteenth century, few Americans knew anything more of Egyptian culture than what could be gained from studying the biblical Exodus. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt at the end of the eighteenth century, however, initiated a cultural breakthrough for Americans as representations of Egyptian culture flooded western museums and publications, sparking a growing interest in all things Egyptian that was coined Egyptomania. As Egyptomania swept over the West, a relatively young America began assimilating Egyptian culture into its own national identity, creating a hybrid national heritage that would vastly affect the memorial landscape of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Far more than a study of Egyptian revivalism, this book examines the Egyptian style of commemoration from the rural cemetery to national obelisks to the Sphinx at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Giguere argues that Americans adopted Egyptian forms of commemoration as readily as other neoclassical styles such as Greek revivalism, noting that the American landscape is littered with monuments that define the Egyptian style’s importance to American national identity. Of particular interest is perhaps America’s greatest commemorative obelisk: the Washington Monument. Standing at 555 feet high and constructed entirely of stone—making it the tallest obelisk in the world—the Washington Monument represents the pinnacle of Egyptian architecture’s influence on America’s desire to memorialize its national heroes by employing monumental forms associated with solidity and timelessness. Construction on the monument began in 1848, but controversy over its design, which at one point included a Greek colonnade surrounding the obelisk, and the American Civil War halted construction until 1877. Interestingly, Americans saw the completion of the Washington Monument after the Civil War as a mending of the nation itself, melding Egyptian commemoration with the reconstruction of America.
As the twentieth century saw the rise of additional commemorative obelisks, the Egyptian Revival became ensconced in American national identity. Egyptian-style architecture has been used as a form of commemoration in memorials for World War I and II, the civil rights movement, and even as recently as the 9/11 remembrances. Giguere places the Egyptian style in a historical context that demonstrates how Americans actively sought to forge a national identity reminiscent of Egyptian culture that has endured to the present day.
Articles by Joy Giguere
Markers: The Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 2021
Material Culture, 2020
While Southern states made efforts to memorialize the Confederate dead with monuments as soon as ... more While Southern states made efforts to memorialize the Confederate dead with monuments as soon as the close of the Civil War in 1865, the 1890s through the first decades of the 20th century marked the zenith of these activities. It was during this time period that monuments were placed in public spaces such as street intersections and courthouse lawns rather than in cemeteries. What many monument committees and communities failed to anticipate was how technology -particularly the popularity of the automobile -and urban expansion would force residents to reckon with the monuments erected during an earlier age. In the culturally charged atmosphere of the 21st century, in which the issue of Confederate monument removal is at the center of heated debates over questions of propriety vs. preservation of historical objects, an understanding of these objects as being subject to removal and relocation over the course of their history has largely been lost. The decision by city officials to relocate the Confederate Monument in downtown Greenville, South Carolina in the 1920s sparked a landmark series of court cases that ultimately resulted in the State supreme court ruling in favor of the city and its removal to the town's Springwood Cemetery. This case established the precedent for the removability of monuments and paved the way for dozens of subsequent removals and relocations over the next half century.
The Public Historian, 2019
Despite Kentucky's status as a Union state during the Civil War, the Louisville Confederate Soldi... more Despite Kentucky's status as a Union state during the Civil War, the Louisville Confederate Soldiers' Monument, erected in 1895 by the Kentucky Confederate Women's Monument Association, is a representative example of Confederate memorialization in the South. Its history through the twentieth century, culminating in the creation of the nearby Freedom Park to counterbalance the monument's symbolism and its ultimate removal and relocation to nearby Brandenburg, Kentucky, in 2017, reveals the relationship between such monuments and the Lost Cause, urban development, public history, and public memory. Using the Louisville Confederate Monument as a case study, this essay considers the ways in which Confederate monuments not only reflect the values of the people who erected them, but ultimately shape and are shaped by their environments.
Ohio Valley History, 2019
Federal soldiers remained mostly unadorned, despite widely publicized funerals for Union soldiers... more Federal soldiers remained mostly unadorned, despite widely publicized funerals for Union soldiers and officers. In this way, support for the Confederate cause and declarations of rebel identity were made manifest on Kentucky's commemorative landscape in the years before the organization of formal memorialization activities devoted to the war's dead. By commemorating the Confederate dead even as the war was being fought, Kentucky's rebels established a visual rhetoric on the cultural landscape that denied the state's political and military loyalty to the Union cause. Much has been written on Kentucky's Civil War experience, the conflicts experienced within the state between unionists, rebels and rebel sympathizers, and of the postwar transformations that occurred as white and black Kentuckians grappled with emancipation and how to fashion new social and political policies during Reconstruction. For nearly a century, historians of Civil War-era Kentucky have embraced the argument, so eloquently stated by E. Merton Coulter in the 1920s, that "she waited until after the war to secede." Numerous twenty-first century historians have echoed this sentiment. In her influential work Creating a Confederate Kentucky, Anne Marshall asserts that in 1866, "once and for all, Kentucky had exchanged war loyalties." James Ramage and Andrea Watkins push this figurative secession back to 1865, arguing that the state took "on the role of spokesman and benefactor of the former Confederate states experiencing Reconstruction" and that "in the wave of pro-Confederate feeling, Kentucky's Union veterans were slighted, and most Kentuckians united in support of the Lost Cause." Aaron Astor pushes this wholesale shift in identity later to 1870, stating that by then, "Kentucky had become thoroughly Confederate, both in its partisan habits and its cultural hue." 2 Such positions have long been based on the analysis of postwar political activity across the state, as conservative Democrats increasingly won elections, rejected ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, and enthusiastically embraced the Southern mythology of the Lost Cause. As many scholars have observed, this political shift was possible due in part to the disaffection of proslavery unionists, many of whom by war's end either changed party affiliations entirely or simply stood by passively as the Democratic Party took control of the state. For example, Patrick A. Lewis aptly states in his biography of Benjamin Forsythe Buckner, a Kentucky lawyer who served as a major in the Union army's Twentieth Kentucky Infantry Volunteer Regiment, "Kentucky took on such a decidedly Confederate flavor in part because conservative wartime Unionists such as Buckner were more pleased with the effects of neo-Confederatism in their present than they were concerned with remembering and commemorating their own wartime service in their past." Shunned by the Grand Army of the Republic in many instances, these formerly staunch proslavery unionists established an unspoken alliance with ex-Confederates in the postwar period and instead of criticizing or boycotting Confederate memorialization activities either remained silent or actively supported their endeavors. Lexington photographer James Mullen produced this stereoview photograph of decorated Union graves at the Lexington Cemetery, c. 1870-1880.
Journal of Southern History, 2018
While visiting Boston in the spring of 1847, Richmond, Virginia, businessmen Joshua J. Fry and Wi... more While visiting Boston in the spring of 1847, Richmond, Virginia, businessmen Joshua J. Fry and William H. Haxall toured Mount Auburn Cemetery in nearby Cambridge. Established in 1831 as the nation's first rural cemetery-so named because of its adherence to a natural, rural aesthetic despite its suburban location-Mount Auburn was famous throughout the United States and Western Europe for its beautiful landscape, splendid monuments, and "solemn grandeur." Inspired by their experience, Fry and Haxall resolved to establish a similar cemetery for their own city. After making appeals to silversmith William Mitchell Jr. and Isaac Davenport, a senior partner in the firm of Davenport and Allen, the four men purchased Harvie's Woods, a plot of land that "bordered several sites already popular with those escaping the bustle of the city, including Clarke's Springs, the grounds of Major John Clarke's estate, and Belvidere, the former home of William Byrd III." In August, the men organized a board of directors, whose members included Thomas H. Ellis, president of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company, and New England transplants James Henry Gardner, a shoe merchant, and Horace L. Kent, a wholesale dry goods merchant. In February 1848 Philadelphia architect John Notman furnished the design for the proposed cemetery as well as its name-Hollywood Cemetery, due to the abundance of holly trees on the grounds. At the cemetery's formal dedication on June 25, 1849, Oliver P. Baldwin compared the newly established burial place with its counterparts in the Northeast, declaring "that a more beautiful place could not have been selected for a tabernacle for the dead." 1 1
The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 2017
Markers: The Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 2017
V ariety th ere must be": Eclecticism, Taste, and the J o y M . G i g u e r e I N 1885, AS AMERIC... more V ariety th ere must be": Eclecticism, Taste, and the J o y M . G i g u e r e I N 1885, AS AMERICA'S distinguished architects pondered the design for the proposed memorial to the nation's Civil War hero and president, Ulysses S. Grant, the North American Review published an anonymous essay by art critic Clarence King, who excoriated the state of American architecture. In response to calls that the Grant monument ought to be something "characteris tically American," King lambasted the eclecticism that had run rampant on the landscape throughout the nineteenth century. "We are an unartistic people," he wrote, "with neither an indigenous nor an adopted art language in which to render grand thoughts." Regarding the apparent overuse of styles derived from other time periods and cultures, King complained that Americans were "phe nomenally ignorant and obtuse as to the requirements of the styles," and that "We use them only to abuse them [...] From Bangor to San Diego we seem nev er weary of contriving for ourselves belongings which are artistically discordant and customs which are wholly inappropriate."1 Writing for The Atlantic Monthly the following year, architect Henry Van Brunt was no less caustic in his assess ment of the architectural landscape, yet held out hope that "to our successors this inchoate, nebulous mass may resolve itself, not into a style in the historical sense, but into a sort of architectural constellation, in which may be seen, in a manner, some reflection of the spirit of the times in which we live."2 In their critiques, King and Van Brunt discussed generally the prevailing American ar chitectural forms, but encompassed within their descriptions was the multitude of styles that had come to dominate the cemetery landscapes through most of the century. America's cemeteries included a host of architectural and sculptural Copyright of Markers is the property of Association for Gravestone Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
This annual feature of Markers, inaugurated in 1995, is intended to serve as an ongoing, working ... more This annual feature of Markers, inaugurated in 1995, is intended to serve as an ongoing, working bibliography of relevant scholarship in the interdisciplinary field of Cemetery and Gravemarker Studies, including relevant works dealing with cenotaphs and public monuments and/or memorials. With significant exceptions, since 2004, it has restricted itself to English-language works in the modern era (i.e. post-1500), consisting of books, scholarly articles, and theses/dissertations. This year's bibliography includes a new section: Book Reprints. This section includes a number of nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century monographs and pamphlets that, during 2009 or 2010, were digitally reprinted, either by university libraries or print-on-demand presses (such as General Books and Nabu Press). These texts, often hard to find, may serve as useful primary sources for researchers, and given their new availability, are listed here.
Prudence tDf of INDULGENT PAKENT Reverend (patience honest Christian . zea^us ..uov udencf hidiif... more Prudence tDf of INDULGENT PAKENT Reverend (patience honest Christian . zea^us ..uov udencf hidiif'tno:-Wis« pm d ence pious varein viftUOUS Consort useeful tmder ZEALOUS frimdlp Mrs. esteemed
Teaching Documents by Joy Giguere
This course will examine the technological development of the United States from the pre-colonial... more This course will examine the technological development of the United States from the pre-colonial period through the present day. Emphasis will be given not only to the inventions themselves but the reasons why such technology was needed and what influence the technology has had on American society. By the end of the semester, students should have developed an understanding of the principle technological developments that shaped American civilization, effectively analyze various scholarly readings on the history of technology, as well as complete an original research paper on a topic dealing with the theme of the course.
Interviews/Podcasts by Joy Giguere
Uploads
Books by Joy Giguere
Pleasure Grounds of Death considers the history of the rural cemetery in the United States throughout the duration of the nineteenth century as not only a critical cultural institution embedded in the formation of community and national identities, but also as major sites of contest over matters of burial reform, taste and respectability, and public behavior; issues concerning race, class, and gender; conflicts over the burial of the Civil War dead and formation of postwar memory; and what constituted the most appropriate ways to structure the landscape of the dead in a modern and progressive society. As cultural landscapes that served the needs of the living as well as the dead, rural cemeteries offer a mirror for the transformations and conflicts taking place throughout the nineteenth century in American society.
Prior to the nineteenth century, few Americans knew anything more of Egyptian culture than what could be gained from studying the biblical Exodus. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt at the end of the eighteenth century, however, initiated a cultural breakthrough for Americans as representations of Egyptian culture flooded western museums and publications, sparking a growing interest in all things Egyptian that was coined Egyptomania. As Egyptomania swept over the West, a relatively young America began assimilating Egyptian culture into its own national identity, creating a hybrid national heritage that would vastly affect the memorial landscape of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Far more than a study of Egyptian revivalism, this book examines the Egyptian style of commemoration from the rural cemetery to national obelisks to the Sphinx at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Giguere argues that Americans adopted Egyptian forms of commemoration as readily as other neoclassical styles such as Greek revivalism, noting that the American landscape is littered with monuments that define the Egyptian style’s importance to American national identity. Of particular interest is perhaps America’s greatest commemorative obelisk: the Washington Monument. Standing at 555 feet high and constructed entirely of stone—making it the tallest obelisk in the world—the Washington Monument represents the pinnacle of Egyptian architecture’s influence on America’s desire to memorialize its national heroes by employing monumental forms associated with solidity and timelessness. Construction on the monument began in 1848, but controversy over its design, which at one point included a Greek colonnade surrounding the obelisk, and the American Civil War halted construction until 1877. Interestingly, Americans saw the completion of the Washington Monument after the Civil War as a mending of the nation itself, melding Egyptian commemoration with the reconstruction of America.
As the twentieth century saw the rise of additional commemorative obelisks, the Egyptian Revival became ensconced in American national identity. Egyptian-style architecture has been used as a form of commemoration in memorials for World War I and II, the civil rights movement, and even as recently as the 9/11 remembrances. Giguere places the Egyptian style in a historical context that demonstrates how Americans actively sought to forge a national identity reminiscent of Egyptian culture that has endured to the present day.
Articles by Joy Giguere
Teaching Documents by Joy Giguere
Interviews/Podcasts by Joy Giguere
Pleasure Grounds of Death considers the history of the rural cemetery in the United States throughout the duration of the nineteenth century as not only a critical cultural institution embedded in the formation of community and national identities, but also as major sites of contest over matters of burial reform, taste and respectability, and public behavior; issues concerning race, class, and gender; conflicts over the burial of the Civil War dead and formation of postwar memory; and what constituted the most appropriate ways to structure the landscape of the dead in a modern and progressive society. As cultural landscapes that served the needs of the living as well as the dead, rural cemeteries offer a mirror for the transformations and conflicts taking place throughout the nineteenth century in American society.
Prior to the nineteenth century, few Americans knew anything more of Egyptian culture than what could be gained from studying the biblical Exodus. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt at the end of the eighteenth century, however, initiated a cultural breakthrough for Americans as representations of Egyptian culture flooded western museums and publications, sparking a growing interest in all things Egyptian that was coined Egyptomania. As Egyptomania swept over the West, a relatively young America began assimilating Egyptian culture into its own national identity, creating a hybrid national heritage that would vastly affect the memorial landscape of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Far more than a study of Egyptian revivalism, this book examines the Egyptian style of commemoration from the rural cemetery to national obelisks to the Sphinx at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Giguere argues that Americans adopted Egyptian forms of commemoration as readily as other neoclassical styles such as Greek revivalism, noting that the American landscape is littered with monuments that define the Egyptian style’s importance to American national identity. Of particular interest is perhaps America’s greatest commemorative obelisk: the Washington Monument. Standing at 555 feet high and constructed entirely of stone—making it the tallest obelisk in the world—the Washington Monument represents the pinnacle of Egyptian architecture’s influence on America’s desire to memorialize its national heroes by employing monumental forms associated with solidity and timelessness. Construction on the monument began in 1848, but controversy over its design, which at one point included a Greek colonnade surrounding the obelisk, and the American Civil War halted construction until 1877. Interestingly, Americans saw the completion of the Washington Monument after the Civil War as a mending of the nation itself, melding Egyptian commemoration with the reconstruction of America.
As the twentieth century saw the rise of additional commemorative obelisks, the Egyptian Revival became ensconced in American national identity. Egyptian-style architecture has been used as a form of commemoration in memorials for World War I and II, the civil rights movement, and even as recently as the 9/11 remembrances. Giguere places the Egyptian style in a historical context that demonstrates how Americans actively sought to forge a national identity reminiscent of Egyptian culture that has endured to the present day.