Learn about 'Victorian Art of Death' at Elgin Alive Series Oct. 8

The Elgin Community Network's Elgin Alive Series continues Tuesday, Oct. 8, with "The Victorian Art of Death."

The program will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Meadows Community Rooms A-B at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave. in downtown Elgin.

Draw your curtains, cover your mirrors, set traps for the Resurrectionists at your loved ones' graves, and put a bell in the coffin.

Michael Murschel undertakes to lead you in a shadowy procession through more than one hundred of the excruciatingly exquisite points of Victorian funeral culture. Hitch up the hearse-and-four, hire the mourners, fluff up the ostrich feathers and go into the night. The program is rated "PG" for "Potentially Gruesome."

Murschel is the author of "The Uncommon History of Elgin, Illinois and Surrounds." Starting in 2015, he began offering a program on "The Victorian Art of Death," tapping into a public fascination with historic funerary customs and symbolism.

The series is sponsored by Elgin Community Network, City of Elgin and Gail Borden Public Library.

For information on the Elgin Alive Series, visit elgin-ecn.org or follow them on Facebook.

Elgin Community Network's mission is to promote a culture of civic engagement by connecting and supporting all Elginites working together with government and other neighborhoods to build sustainable, safe and livable communities.