By the 1930s, when this photograph was taken, the practice of postmortem photography had fallen out of favor with most middle-class Americans. It did, however, continue to flourish among immigrant and ethnic working-class communities. Many immigrant families sent postmortem portraits to relatives at home and the photographs played an important role in maintaining family bonds over great distances.

Religious symbols figure prominently in portraits from this era and it was common for priests to pose with the family. A typical arrangement would be to take the photograph on the steps of a family home or church. This portrait of a Greek family gathered around the casket of a relative is very representative of images from this period.

Postmortem portraits dating after the 1940s are quite rare. As American funerary practices and attitudes about death changed, postmortem photography did not remain a part of the accepted memorial and mourning process. Today, many people feel that material evidence of a loved one's death would prolong grieving, and postmortem photography is not considered a normal practice in mainstream American culture. In recent years, however, some have begun to argue that taking photographs, particularly in the case of neonatal and infant death, can have a therapeutic effect for a grieving family.

Credit: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, #X-25546, Rocky Mountain Photo Company

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