Hi Absynthe, I think I have heard a bit about "memento mori"...thank you for mentioning that. Since my grandmother's family was relatively poor I imagine these may well have been the only photos they had of the children who died...it's so sad!
Puddleboy you are right...the train in the picture is from the late 70's/early 80's...the ones in the link Lynne posted are 90's (and thanks for that Lynne...very cool website!). My kids had both the 80's and the 90's versions. We found the 80's version at a yard sale when my youngest son was obsessed with trains. The train in this pic has a yellow "knob" on top that when pushed makes a train whistle noise...the newer version doesn't.
Love this site...and reading all of your comments! It's my favorite thing to do at work ...looking at Mott's cool pics and hoping I don't get caught. My boss is at a meeting so I'm safe for now. ;-)
I definitely had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach while looking at these caskets. I think I know why (other than thinking about death not exactly being a pleasant past time)...my grandmother had an album of photos that had belonged to her family when she was young...several of the photos were pictures of some of her siblings who had died as children (why on earth they wanted to remember them in their coffins is beyond my comprehension.). Anyway, to make a long story short, the coffins in these pics and the coffins in my grandmother's family album photos are almost identical...of course on a smaller scale for children. As a child I had a morbid fascination with these photos...they scared me to death but I always looked at them every time I went to visit her.
Okay, that's my weird story for the day...Motts, thank you for this amazing website!
I have often wondered why so much stuff is left behind to rot in these abandoned places. The thing that is most crazy is how many patient records are left behind...I'll never understand that.
Motts your photos are AMAZING and your comments on the pics are compassionate and insightful. An awesome body of work...many thanks!