Father Hugs Infant Daughter
Fiedler, Hammond, New Jersey, Cabinet Card, circa 1884
This image is a part of a series of three cards. Two show the child in her casket. This poignant third view depicts her bereaved father clutching his daughter for her last family photograph. He was photographed alone with his daughter possibly because the picture was taken as a personal statement of love and loss. However, it is also possible that his wife is deceased, or was unable to bear the prospect of being photographed with her dead daughter.
From Sleeping Beauty II - Grief, Bereavement and the Family in Memorial Photography by Stanley B. Burns, M.D.
