Mourning customs

A large elderly man labeled “Life Insurance” holds a cornucopia filled with documents labeled “For the Beneficiaries.” Next to him sits a large dog with collar labeled “Supt. Insurance,” and in front is a group of diminutive figures, a woman in mourning, an elderly man holding the hand of a young child, and a nurse holding an infant. In the background are a group of businessmen labeled “Corruption.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The indiscretions and reports of corruption common to most large American businesses in 1905, in the midst of the Muckraking Era, reached the insurance industry as well. Public concern was accelerated by the well-publicized orgiastic ball thrown by the heir to the Equitable Life Insurance fortune, the putative next director, James Hazen Hyde. In addition to the public’s reaction to conspicuous consumption and loose moral atmosphere at the ball were rumors that its extravagant expense was charged to the Equitable.

President Roosevelt speaks to the people of the United States on the occasion of President William McKinley’s assassination and proclaims a day of mourning. This handwritten draft of Roosevelt’s proclamation includes several edits.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-14

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt grieves the recent assassination of President William McKinley and proclaims a national day of mourning.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-14

Theodore Roosevelt, wearing a mourning armband for his son Quentin, delivers a speech from a covered platform to a large crowd gathered in an open area of what appears to be a factory and surrounding area.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1918

A view of what appears to be downtown Oyster Bay, New York, with what may be a municipal building and stone gazebo visible beside a flag, which is flying at half-mast. The ground is snow-covered. The occasion may be the mourning period following Theodore Roosevelt’s death on January 6, 1919.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1919-01-06

After William McKinley’s death, Mayor Weaver ordered the flag at city hall to be lowered to half-mast, called upon the churches to hold memorial services, and requested a general suspension of business.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-14

Uncle Sam reclines in a chair with his feet resting on a foot stool. On a table next to him are medications labeled “Tariff Reform Tonic” and “Repeal of Sherman Silver Law Elixir.” Benjamin Harrison stands at center holding a large “Certificate of Death – Died of Democratic Rule.” He is attended by several men with their mourning hats, including Thomas Collier Platt, Charles A. Boutelle, Whitelaw Reid, George F. Hoar, and Thomas B. Reed. They have come to pay their last respects.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-09-06

A group of Democrats, identified as “Hill, Murphy, Vest, Bland, Matthews, Morgan, Harris, Crisp, Tillman, Altgeld, Campbell, [and] Stevenson,” stand near a bier labeled “Dem. Free Coinage Platform” on which lies the expired “Democratic Party” donkey. A ladder labeled “Chicago Convention” has been placed against the bier and the “Chicago Nominee,” wearing the black shroud of a widow, climbs to the top. Benjamin R. Tillman places more straw on the bier with a pitchfork, while John Peter Altgeld and James E. Campbell use torches to ignite fuses to burn the donkey. David B. Hill and Edward Murphy console each other.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-08

William McKinley, Benjamin Harrison, and John Sherman are pictured as old women in mourning among gravestones labeled, “Here lies our dear McKinley Bill. Ruthlessly assassinated in the flower of its youth by the tariff reform bandits of the 53rd Congress,” “Sacred to the memory of the Federal Election Law, annihilated by the guerrillas of the 53rd Congress. R.I.P.,” and “Here lies the Sherman Silver Law. Cruelly done to death by G. Cleveland. We bear our loss with fortitude.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-09-12

Brother Cornelius Roosevelt has passed away and Theta Xi members should wear the badge of mourning for fourteen days.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-07