Graven Images: Colonial New England Gravestones as Art and History

Early New England gravestones are unique expressions of the culture and beliefs of their time and place in our history. Crafted by hand by itinerant stone carvers, the symbols and epitaphs provide a unique window into the fears and concerns, hopes, and ambitions of generations long past. Their origins and purpose in a rapidly evolving society will be presented by cultural historian and Wesleyan University Visiting Scholar, Richard J. Friswell.

Richard Friswell, MEd, MPhil, is a Visiting Scholar at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, where he co-directs the Wesleyan Wasch Center Seminars, their adult education program. He has published three books of historical fiction dealing with topics of cultural history through the imagined eye of an historian and storyteller. He speaks and lectures widely on topics related to the ‘Modern Era,’ a time during the 18th and 19th centuries when Western civilization was experiencing rapid change in the face of the Industrial Revolution and widespread political upheaval. He lives, paints and writes in Branford, CT.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.