“Safely” Learning to Clean Grave Markers: An Introduction

by Erin-Lee McGuire | Jul 28, 2023 | Blog

Guest post by Virgil F. For novices, cleaning and tending grave markers seems incredibly intimidating. Mistakes are almost all irreversible, and incredibly easy to make. So, for those trying to contribute to their local community by volunteering their time with a...

Getting Your Hands Dirty: Reflections on Headstone Cleaning

by Erin-Lee McGuire | Jul 24, 2023 | Blog

This post contains my thoughts and feelings after spending a day in the VictoriaJewish Cemetery caring for some of the monuments that lie there. Guest post by Hazel W. On July 20th our Anthropology 367 class began work on cleaning some of the headstones in the Jewish...

Conservation and Preservation: Maintaining Grave Monuments in Old Cemeteries

by Erin-Lee McGuire | Jul 20, 2023 | Blog

Proper maintenance of cemeteries and grave markers can prevent quick deterioration of monuments and can help protect community history. But, it is important to understand what techniques, tools and materials should be used to prevent more damage from occurring during...

Uncovering the Past: Cleaning Gravestones in Emanu-El (Guest post by Tony & Emily)

by Erin-Lee McGuire | Jun 5, 2017 | Blog

Throughout this course, we have seen many damaged and worn monuments within the Congregation Emanu-El Cemetery here in Victoria, BC. For many of these cases, the projects are just too grand for our group to undertake. However, during our last class Erin taught us one...

Recording the Past for the Future (Guest post by Morgan King)

by Erin-Lee McGuire | May 19, 2017 | Blog

Day 2 in the Jewish Cemetery. Tuesday was a day full of information since as a class we learned how to record the monuments (i.e. headstones). This is one of the larger goals of this class and by extension this project, for the Jewish Community that this cemetery...