108 registered references
Source IDs remain in the downloadable dataset so downstream users can preserve provenance.
- Robert Gerald Guest: Grant of ArmsCanadian Heraldic Authority
Names and depicts crosses moline in one grant. Form evidence; the stated Benedictine association belongs to this recipient, not every cross moline.
- History of the Maryland FlagMaryland Secretary of State
Distinguishes the button ends of a cross bottony in a specific flag tradition. Form evidence, not a universal religious or personal affiliation.
- G.A.R. Medal Star: Burial Objects from the National CemeteryNational Park Service
Catalog description and photograph of a specific five-point veteran medal. Supports the broad star form, not identification of every star carving or reconstruction of a complete badge.
- Mortar and Pestle, M.73.5.264a-bLos Angeles County Museum of Art
The object record and photograph show a hollow vessel and a separate pestle. Used here for tool-form identification only, not as evidence of a funerary meaning or a person’s occupation.
- Book of Hours, MS M.74 fol.112v: PentecostThe Morgan Library & Museum
The catalogue identifies the descending Dove of the Holy Ghost in a Pentecost miniature. A specific Christian-art context, not a universal interpretation of gravestones.
- Tomb with draped urn, St John with All Saints (1068697)Historic England
The official description records a draped urn on a high square plinth. Evidence of monument form, not a universal meaning of the drapery.
- James Denby Gludo: Arms, Flag and BadgeCanadian Heraldic Authority
This named record describes two swords in saltire and relates its swords to the recipient’s service. It does not identify another person’s service or affiliation.
- Scythe, object 96/111Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading
Object record describes a cutting blade fixed to a shaft with two handles. Form evidence for a tool, not evidence of a funerary interpretation.
- Commemorative Structures: Listing Selection Guide, section 1.3, p. 4Historic England
December 2017 guide describes chest-tomb construction in its English Georgian context; not a survey of the burial beneath an individual monument.
- NHLE asset type terms: Table Tomb and Chest TombHistoric England
Controlled terms distinguish a slab on freestanding legs from a stone-box form; individual catalogue descriptions can use names differently.
- Burdon table tomb, Stainton and Thornton (1329532)Historic England
Official description records an H-plan monument with deeply recessed sides resembling a chest tomb.
- Table tomb at All Saints, Necton (1077228)Historic England
The entry is named Table Tomb while its detailed description calls the fourteenth-century monument a chest tomb.
- Symbolism on GravestonesAssociation for Gravestone Studies
Scholarly caution, hands, obelisks, fraternal symbols, Woodmen of the World and interpretation limits.
- About the Association for Gravestone StudiesAssociation for Gravestone Studies
Background on the international study and preservation of grave markers.
- RelictMerriam-Webster
Definition, etymology and the older/legal surviving-spouse sense of relict.
- RelictDictionaries of the Scots Language
Historical Scots usage for a surviving wife or widower, with dated documentary examples.
- Ecclesiastical AbbreviationsCatholic Encyclopedia, New Advent
Expands R.I.P. as Requiescat in pace and translates it as a wish for rest in peace.
- Tomb of George Broad, Hammersmith CemeteryHistoric England
A documented late-Victorian cemetery tomb whose lower panel bears the full phrase Requiescat in pace.
- Cemetery Survey Instructions & GlossaryAlabama Historical Commission
Defines coping/curbing as an outline around one grave or a group of graves and distinguishes technical usage.
- Historic Context and Handbook for the Identification and Evaluation of Georgia’s Burial GroundsGeorgia Department of Transportation
Describes coping as a low curb used to designate burial plots and discusses plot boundaries and materials.
- Echoes Written in StoneU.S. National Park Service
Common plant, animal, hand, religious, military and organizational motifs.
- Historic Cemetery — Saint Paul's Church National Historic SiteU.S. National Park Service
Urn-and-willow imagery, obelisks and nineteenth-century classical revival context.
- Cemetery SymbolsIndiana Department of Natural Resources
Plain-language guidance for birds, crosses, hearts, ivy, lambs, roses, snakes, sun and wheat.
- Emblems of BeliefU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — National Cemetery Administration
Official names and use of belief emblems on U.S. government-furnished markers.
- Headstones, Markers, and MedallionsU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — National Cemetery Administration
Government marker types, materials and memorial-product context.
- Cleaning Grave MarkersU.S. National Park Service
Gentlest-means cleaning guidance and warnings against bleach, wire brushes and pressure washing.
- Cleaning Government-Furnished Headstones and MarkersU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — National Cemetery Administration
Permission, timing, fragile-stone and cleaning-method guidance.
- Cemetery ConservationNational Center for Preservation Technology and Training, U.S. National Park Service
Documentation, conservation, maintenance and non-invasive care resources.
- Woodmen of the World, a Fraternal Order SymbolArkansas Archeological Survey
Tree-stump memorials, identifying emblems and the warning that a stump alone does not prove membership.
- How to Read a Hebrew TombstoneJewishGen
Hebrew inscriptions and common clues such as Kohen hands, Levite pitchers and candelabra.
- Stećci Medieval Tombstone GraveyardsUNESCO World Heritage Centre
Forms, dates, regional distribution, inscriptions and decorative motifs of stećci.
- Adinkra Symbols ExplainedAfrican Burial Ground National Monument, U.S. National Park Service
Context for Adinkra motifs at the African Burial Ground memorial.
- Stopping the Hands of Time: 9 Tips for Cemetery PreservationU.S. National Park Service
Documentation-first preservation, maintenance and treatment cautions.
- Cemetery Conservation: Terms and DefinitionsU.S. National Park Service
Defines cemetery monument forms and materials, including box tombs, vaults, mausolea, granite and sandstone.
- Cemetery Preservation Course: Materials and MonumentsU.S. National Park Service
Describes common monument materials and construction context, including fieldstone and cast bronze.
- Caring for Historic Cemetery and Graveyard MonumentsHistoric England
Identifies monument forms and materials and gives condition/care guidance; it is not used here as a source for Latin or fraternal definitions.
- Getting Started with Genealogy: Common Record AbbreviationsAmerican Ancestors, New England Historic Genealogical Society
Genealogical abbreviation reference that expands d.s.p. as decessit sine prole and distinguishes common birth/death notation.
- History of the Order of the Eastern StarGeneral Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star
Official organizational history and emblem context for O.E.S.; an O.E.S. inscription alone does not identify a member or chapter.
- Knights of PythiasKnights of Pythias
Official organizational context for Knights of Pythias and its fraternal vocabulary.
- Knights of Pythias Object RecordSmithsonian Institution
Museum object record that identifies FCB as Friendship, Charity, Benevolence in Knights of Pythias material.
- IHS MonogramIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Museum description of the IHS monogram as the Greek form of the name Jesus and its Christian visual context.
- Hodie mihi, cras tibiCentro Virtual Cervantes, Instituto Cervantes
Language reference for the Latin phrase and its proverb context; it does not establish a denomination for a particular marker.
- Methods of AbbreviationCatholic Encyclopedia, New Advent
Explains D.O.M. as Deo Optimo Maximo and discusses historical use of IHS; used for abbreviation history, not universal denominational attribution.
- Inscription Record Using D.O.M.S.Columbia University Libraries
Digitized inscription record showing D.O.M.S. as Deo optimo maximo sacrum in a documented epigraphic context.
- Inscription 1792: Aetatis suae LXXIUniversity of Virginia, Sepoltuario Fiorentino
Documented Latin inscription with Aetatis suae and an English translation identifying the honoree's age.
- The Washington Monument CapstoneGeorge Washington University Museum
Museum record that identifies the inscribed Latin phrase Laus Deo and translates it as Praise be to God.
- Woodmen of the World Markers, Cedar Hill Cemetery, Rusk (September 2015)Stephen F. Austin State University, Center for Regional Heritage Research
SFASU Heritage Center article records Woodmen of the World marker features and states that Dum Tacet Clamat means Though silent, he speaks. The current SFASU route returned 404 after a site migration; the rendered evidence link is the timestamped authoritative capture.
- Dancing Skeletons and Human Hair: Remembrance, Memento Mori, and Material CultureFolger Shakespeare Library
Institutional material-culture essay that translates memento mori as remember to die and situates the phrase in mortality imagery.
- The Epitaph of Joachim Alphonse GonçalvesDickinson College Commentaries
Documented epitaph that uses HIC JACET and supplies an English Here lies translation in context.
- Latin Terms with English EquivalentsUniversity of Barcelona Language Services
University language guide that gives in memoriam as in memory.
- Greek Art from Prehistoric to ClassicalThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum glossary defining stele as an upright inscribed or decorated stone slab, including Greek grave-marker use; UNESCO remains separate for stećci context.
- Structure of Odd FellowshipIndependent Order of Odd Fellows
Official lodge and Encampment page distinguishes FLT (Friendship, Love and Truth) from FHC (Faith, Hope and Charity); accessed 2026-10-04.
- Independent Order of Odd FellowsIndependent Order of Odd Fellows
Official organizational context for Odd Fellows and its three-link emblem; the emblem alone is not proof of membership.
- Denis Malcolm Davidson: badge, grant of 27 May 1999Canadian Heraldic Authority
The badge blazon names a cross potent. This is a particular heraldic record, not a cemetery-wide meaning or evidence of individual affiliation.
- Trinity Church: arms and badge, grant of 4 May 1998Canadian Heraldic Authority
The blazon specifies a cross potent with outward-curved crosspieces, documenting a named variant rather than a universal outline.
- On the Holy Name of JesusSociety of Jesus, Jean-Paul Hernández SJ, 3 January 2021
Explains IHS as an abbreviation of the Greek name of Jesus and distinguishes a later Latin devotional reading; use of the monogram does not by itself establish Jesuit affiliation.
- The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague: symbolsJewish Museum in Prague
The cemetery custodian associates hands raised in blessing with Kohanim in this cemetery. It does not establish the identity or lineage of someone on another stone.
- The Priestly Blessing: Raised HandsChabad.org, Rabbi Naftali Silberberg
Describes spacing between thumb/index and middle/ring fingers and the two thumbs; explicitly notes family/community variation and a different Sephardi configuration. A ritual reference for the schematic, not a universal carving template.
- Salix babylonica: Weeping WillowNorth Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
Describes pendulous branches as a botanical feature. This supports identification guidance, not a cemetery meaning or species identification from a carving.
- Headstone with winged skull, St Romald, Romaldkirk (1338585)Historic England
Official record identifies a mid-eighteenth-century sandstone headstone with a bold winged-skull relief; this dates the example, not every use of the motif.
- Stonington Cemetery: National Register registration, section 8, page 38National Park Service / Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office
Regional account distinguishes winged-skull mortality reminders from later winged-head soul-effigies, with examples and variations among colonial carving traditions.
- A group of 16 silver vases and utensils: pyxis L.2015.2.14The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Catalogue describes Eros with an inverted flaming torch, a death motif on Roman sarcophagi, and possible afterlife interpretations of this relief.
- Bronze statuette of a satyr with a torch and wineskin (41.11.6)The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A non-funerary counterexample: the satyr may be extinguishing the torch or lighting it from a hearth, with the wineskin favoring the latter reading.
- Canadian Heraldic Authority: Saint-Laurent Herald badgeGovernor General of Canada / Canadian Heraldic Authority
Official blazon calls the badge a cross flory; its explanation identifies fleur-de-lis ends. This is identification evidence, not a universal cemetery meaning.
- Municipalité de la Paroisse de Saint-Philémon: registered armsGovernor General of Canada / Canadian Heraldic Authority
Named municipal arms give the cross Christian and Quebec associations in that specific design.
- Joseph Léonce Bernard: registered armsGovernor General of Canada / Canadian Heraldic Authority
Named personal arms assign the cross and its arms family associations and the fleurs-de-lis French ancestry; no meaning is transferred to another person.
- Broken-column memorial, West Cemetery (AA074475)Historic England Archive
Archive catalogue describes a broken-column memorial as mortality or a life cut short; no archive photograph is reproduced.
- Headstones at St Laurence, Ramsgate (1372262)Historic England
Listed-building record documents a winged hourglass on the headstone of Richard Maye, died 1705; the date belongs to this example.
- Hanging Lamp in the Form of a Peacock (61.111a, b)The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Byzantine lamp record dates this object to the sixth–seventh century and discusses the peacock in Christian imagery. An art example, not evidence of intent on every grave.
- Brilliant Plumage: Louis C. Tiffany’s Peacock DesignsThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
The museum discusses resurrection, renewal and immortality associations in nineteenth-century design. This and the lamp record come from the same institution, not independent cemetery studies.
- DolphinsMuseum of Archaeology, University of Pavia
The museum discusses ancient art and Christian catacomb imagery of salvation. It does not establish a universal meaning for modern grave carvings.
- Our MissionKnights of Pythias of Texas
The organization states Friendship, Charity and Benevolence as its values. This is motto context, not a roster or evidence of one person’s membership.
- Sword Hilt (1881–82), Carrier-Belleuse and FalizeThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
The hilt’s Marian imagery includes lilies associated with purity. Evidence for this art context, not all funerary resurrection or restored-innocence readings.
- North Burial Ground: National Register nomination, section 8, page 7 (PDF page 15)National Park Service / Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission
The nomination describes the Mary Harris marker of 1744 with a scythe touching rather than splitting the hourglass. A dated local example, not a universal arrangement.
- Christian Science Emblem Jewelry and J.C. DerbyThe Mary Baker Eddy Library
Documents Christian Science cross-and-crown jewelry and design distinctions. A shared-emblem counterexample, not a source for Knights Templar regalia.
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus: papal crosses (300010076)Getty Research Institute
Defines three crossbars with progressively shorter upper bars. Structural identification does not establish clerical rank or affiliation of a person on a stone.
- Grand Army of the Republic and Kindred Societies: IntroductionLibrary of Congress
Describes the Union-veteran organization and its posts, and directs research toward encampment publications and surviving local records. Initials alone do not prove service or membership.
- What Are You Laughing At? To the Victor Belong the Spoils (28.111.4(2))The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The record identifies Tweed with a broken sword in political satire. A contextual counterexample, not evidence of a funerary meaning or heroic death.
- AntsMissouri Department of Conservation
Describes six legs, elbowed antennae and a constricted waist, and industry/teamwork associations in stories and fables. Not a cemetery interpretation or a species identification for a carving.
- Terracotta rim fragment of a kylix (2011.604.1.7280)The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Describes a forearm and hand holding a flower on one cup fragment. Form terminology only, not a funerary interpretation or a model for the original schematic.
- Wooden symbols — heart in hand (01513)St Kilda Historical Society / Victorian Collections
Documents particular IOOF objects and aid to a brother in need. This object context does not establish affiliation or a universal interpretation for a memorial.
- The Rotary wheelRotary Club of Charleston
A local club describes six spokes, 24 cogways and a keyway. Recognition guidance, not a Rotary International controlled brand standard or proof of an individual's membership.
- Emblem Usage Guidelines: Elks USA and 11 O’Clock emblems describedBenevolent and Protective Order of Elks
Printed page 2 describes the combined letters, star, clock face and elk bust of the 11 O’Clock emblem. Supports exact-form recognition, not the deceased's time of death or membership.
- Memento moriTate
Translates the phrase and discusses mortality imagery in painting, including guttering or extinguished candles. Not a universal reading of a plain candle on a gravestone.
- Celebrating Life and Death with RubiesThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Curator C. Griffith Mann explains memento-mori jewelry, including a German gimmel ring dated 1631. A dated art example, not a gravestone or a date rule for other objects.
- IOOF SymbolsIOOF Tonquish Lodge No. 32, Plymouth, Michigan
The lodge's teaching describes the all-seeing eye and the three-link F-L-T chain. Shared imagery alone does not identify a person's membership.
- Terminology definition: TrefoilsThe Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Defines a geometric motif of three equal arcs or lobes separated by cusps. Form evidence only, not a universal Trinity interpretation or funerary meaning.
- Who We Are — Our HistoryFraternal Order of Eagles
The organization's history dates its founding to February 1898 and describes adoption of the bald eagle emblem. Supports organizational context, not the date of a memorial or proof of individual membership.
- Corvids: how to identify the crow familyRSPB
Natural-bird recognition: a raven's substantial bill, throat hackles and wedge-shaped tail. Not evidence of a cemetery meaning or a species identification from a worn carving.
- School Slate Frame Patented by Daniel W. Niles, 1869Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Object 2014.0244.078 documents a school slate frame with educational designs. Its object dates and use do not establish the identity or date of a gravestone carving.
- Writing slate, A2129Science Museum Group
A2129 is a wood-framed slate for recording hospital-ward information, catalogued 1900–1928. A counterexample to treating every writing board as proof of teaching or childhood.
- General George Meade Equestrian StatueNational Park Service
Identifies Meade and his horse Old Baldy at a particular Gettysburg battlefield monument. Does not assign a military meaning to an anonymous horse carving or identify a grave.
- The Horse Hoof Question: An Enduring MythGettysburg National Military Park, National Park Service
The official park account rejects a supposed hoof-position code for the fate of riders on Gettysburg's equestrian monuments. Not a chronology or interpretation of all horse motifs.
- Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart, watercolour 32320iWellcome Collection
The museum describes flames, a thorn crown and a cross on the Sacred Heart, contrasting swords and lilies on the Immaculate Heart. Its watercolour date is uncertain [between 1700 and 1799?]; neither the object nor its date identifies every memorial.
- Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of JesusVatican News
An official Catholic account of the devotion and its liturgical history. Religious context, not evidence of an individual deceased person's belief or the age of a carving.
- Revelation, chapter 2United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Verse 10 addresses the church at Smyrna and uses 'faithful until death' in this translation. Scripture context for a wording variant, not evidence of a person's martyrdom or denomination.
- Lachrymae, Frederic, Lord Leighton, 1894–95 (96.28)The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The museum interprets the cypress in this painting as mourning and immortality. A specific art example, not a universal meaning or date rule for cemetery carvings.
- Iconography of gravestones at burying groundsCity of Boston
Describes human-faced winged cherubs in Boston from the 1690s and their coexistence with death's heads into the late eighteenth century. Local chronology, not a universal sequence or proof of personal belief.
- Sarcophagi (coffins)Getty Research Institute, Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Defines the stone or terracotta coffin category, usually with carving. Terminology, not evidence of the contents or prevalence of cemetery memorial forms.
- History of the CenotaphEnglish Heritage
Describes the sarcophagus in the design of the Whitehall commemorative monument. One named memorial example, not a rule about other tombs or the location of remains.
- Oaklawn Walking Tour: CradlesCity of Tampa
Describes Oaklawn's crib-like stone or masonry flower-bed forms and explains that they were not only for children. Local examples, not an age test for another grave.
- Cradle GravesFriends of the Grove Street Cemetery
June 2021 leaflet: documented Grove Street examples include a simple headstone and low coping around a flower bed. Records include adults and infants; form alone does not establish age.
- Parts of a coat of armsCanadian Heraldic Authority, Governor General of Canada
Explains the shield as the field carrying heraldic colours and devices. A guide to the heraldic structure, not an attribution of an unidentified grave carving.
- Province of OntarioCanadian Heraldic Authority, Governor General of Canada
Explains maple leaves and the cross of St. George in this specific provincial coat of arms. Its symbolism must not be transferred to an unrelated shield or individual.
- General Audience, 12 January 2022: Saint Joseph the carpenterHoly See
Pope Francis names Joseph a carpenter/joiner in this Catholic catechesis. Named religious context only; it does not identify tools on an anonymous memorial or establish the deceased's occupation.
- Surveyor's compass used by James Watt, 2019-66Science Museum Group
Physical instrument record: case, magnetic rose, degree scales, four open sights and tripod socket. Its circa 1760 date belongs to this named object, not a gravestone chronology. No museum image is reproduced.
- Albert College: Arms and Badges, register 2905Canadian Heraldic Authority
The 2017 Baker House badge's three interlaced annulets represent team spirit in this specific college context. Not a grave example, universal religious meaning or identification of another person's affiliation. No registered artwork is reproduced.
- Mathematical Moments: Borromean ringsAmerican Mathematical Society
Explains the mathematical distinction: the three rings together are linked while no pair is linked. Geometry terminology only, not evidence of a funerary meaning.