This article explores the sociohistorical changes in children's gravestones in fourteen cemeteries in Southern Illinois and Western Michigan. Using photographs of the gravestones, the author focused on the types of gravestones, the inscriptions, and images to examine whether the value of, or attitudes toward, children had changed during the period of 1860 through 1997. The findings suggest that the value of children, seen in the expressions of grief and loss on the gravestones, did not change. However, attitudes toward children and their place in the family do appear to have moved from a formal relationship to a more informal one.
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