Disposal of Death in San Francisco

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a general overview of changes in 19th century American attitudes toward the dead and cemeteries. The paper examines how cemeteries reflected and revealed contemporary concerns. It then compares and contrasts these general trends to the unusual history of cemeteries in San Francisco, California, contextualizing and explaining the case of San Francisco cemeteries by examining the city's equally unique social history, development and values.

From the Paper:

"In the 19th century, urbanization led to changes in American attitudes toward cemeteries. People developed a distaste for urban graveyards, often finding them unsanitary and unsatisfactory sites for mourning. In the 1831, the rural cemetery movement took shape with the creation of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts, and cemetery planners began developing cemeteries miles from city centers. These rural cemeteries reflected Americans' romantic sensibilities; their naturalistic, pastoral settings served as a nostalgic reaction against urbanization, as a peaceful retreat away from the hustle and bustle of modern urban life. Rural cemeteries were emphasized as cultural centers, as places for melancholy thought, contemplation of death, and reverence for the past. The rural cemetery movement sentimentally emphasized and idealized the past, the value of country's ancestry."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Farrell, James J. Inventing the American Way of Death, 1830-1920. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980.
• Lewis, Oscar. San Francisco: Mission to Metropolis. Berkeley: Howell-North Books,1966.
• Meyer, Richard E., ed. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers. Utah State University Press, 1989. Nadeau, Remi. California: the New Society. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1963.
• Sloane, David Charles. The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,1991
• Stannard, David E., ed. Death in America. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975. San Francisco. Hastings House Publishers, New York, 1940

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