When we consider prominent cemetery monument forms during the first half of the twentieth century, it’s hard to avoid the Celtic Cross. George Foster Peabody commissioned one from the Presbrey Leland Company to mark the Saratoga Springs grave of his wife, Katrina. Company President Clifford Presbrey used one to mark his own grave in New Jersey. One of sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder’s key early commissions led to the creation of the William Joyce Sewell Memorial, a major Celtic cross at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey. Another marks the multi-generational grave of the Calder family of sculptors placed one at the family’s lot in West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Beyond these prominent examples, the monument type becomes a staple of more modest grave marking as. This paper will examine both prominent and lesser examples coupled with contemporary writings on the form in order to better understand its significance and popularity among Americans during the first half of the twentieth century.
About the presenterDennis Montagna
Dr. Dennis Montagna directs the National Park Service’s Monument Research & Preservation Program. Based at the Park Service’s Philadelphia Region Office, the program provides comprehensive assistance in the interpretation and care of historic cemeteries, outdoor sculpture and public monuments to managers of National Park sites and to other constituents nationwide. He is a Trustee of the Association for Gravestone Studies and serves as the organization’s Vice President. He holds a BA degree in Studio Art from Florida State University, a Master’s degree in Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D from the University of Delaware.