Messages from beyond

No matter what associations graveyards evoke, "American Resting Place," the current exhibit at the Mission Houses Museum, conveys their beauty.

'American Resting Place' » On exhibit: Through Aug. 23 » Place: Mission Houses Museum, 553, S. King St. » Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays » Admission: $6 » Call: 531-0481 or online at missionhouses.org

The show features photography by Reid Yalom, who illustrated "The American Resting Place: Four Hundred Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds," a book by his mother, Marilyn Yalom, with images of graveyards from across the country. The book chronicles 400 years of history and includes a chapter on Hawaii.

"This show gives a whole other perspective on graveyards," says Nanette Napoleon, a graveyard historian for almost 30 years. "It makes you think in a different way about these places. Who are they for? Are they for the dead or the living?"

Grave markers, Napoleon says, offer the living information that is "part religious, part social history."

Historians can gain a wealth of information just by looking at old markers. Napoleon immediately identifies Yalom's image of an Asian marker, for instance, as one belonging to a Chinese plantation worker.

"The person was likely first generation because the words are still written in characters," she says. "You know it's a Chinese person because there are characters in the middle of the marker and on the left and right sides. The line on the right indicates the lunar calendar year of death, and the line on the left is the solar calendar date. Japanese markers only had one line of characters down the middle.

"The marker is made of concrete, which indicates it belonged to a plantation worker because (the family) couldn't afford marble or granite," she concludes.

Family members as well can find new information about loved ones through their markers.

"When we look at a tombstone, we see mostly just names and dates, but that's important because with such a large immigrant population in Hawaii, sometimes it's the only documentation in any kind of written form about a person," says Napoleon. "Markers are a valuable geneological resource."

Japanese tombstones, for example, often bore writing on the sides. One side would state the prefecture, and sometimes even the specific village, of the deceased. The other side would state how the person contributed to the community, whether it be through listing community groups or documenting their employment.

"People will tell me, 'We didn't know our grandfather had this middle name,' or maybe the name on the marker is different from the one they know, so they find out why. Then they hear stories about the loved one they never heard before."

Napoleon encourages families to visit graves together. It's the perfect place to talk story and share family history, she says. "Grave sites are memory-provoking places. They're a great venue where grandparents can talk about their lives to the younger generation."