Mourning at Mount Vernon: Memory, Commemoration, and Thanatourism in the Creation of Nineteenth-Century American Identity

<p>This study explores the development of Mount Vernon as a historic site dedicated to promoting patriotic memories of the American Revolution during the Sectional Crisis, Reconstruction, and Gilded Age which resulted in building national identity focused on sacrifice to the nation. As the plantation is also the site of George Washington’s Tomb, I contend that travel to this location falls within the definitions of thanatourism developed by Tourism Studies to explore the motives of tourists who choose to visit places related to death and disasters. For nineteenth-century American tourists, steeped in the cultural traditions of death and mourning, visits to Washington’s Tomb assisted in the building of national identity through the patriotic mission and curation of the memorial spaces by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union who took charge of the home and lands in 1858. Through an exploration of letters, travel journals, newspapers, guidebooks, and official Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association Minutes and Records, I assert that the thanatourism was a response to desires for a unified national identity and promoted this identity through speeches and publications, emotional reactions found in travel literature, and souvenir sales which served as memento mori. Therefore, Mount Vernon serves as a location of commemoration at the intersections of death, memory, and identity.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

History, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Arts and Humanities

Year dc:date.available

2023

Author dc:creator

• Matthews, Lisa Janeen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joshua Goode
• Daniel Livesay

• 19th Century America
• Guidebooks
• Memento Mori
• Mount Vernon
• Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union
• Thanatourism
• American Studies
• History

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/726

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1748