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The Melancholy Museum: Love, Death, and Mourning at Stanford

Welcome to the Melancholy Museum: Love, Death, and Mourning at Stanford. This page features objects included in the exhibition and on view in Cantor’s two Stanford Family Galleries based on themes of mourning, loss, and the Stanford empire in the Melancholy Museum.

  • Click on Mourning Cabinet to review the objects Mark Dion has selected from Leland Jr.'s collection that represent the five classical elements: Earth, Air, the Underworld, Water and Fire.
  • Click on Gilded Age to examine some of the Stanford's surviving treasures from their "Millionaire's Mansion," including invitations from their lives as socialites during the Gilded Age and artifacts belonging to laborers from the various businesses Leland and Jane Stanford engaged in, like the Central Pacific Railroad, Stock Barn, and grape brandy vineyard. Included in this section are ephemera and spiritual relics from the Stanford University Archives and artifacts from the Indigenous community and laborers employed by the Stanfords, and the Stanford family themselves from the Stanford University Archaeology Collections.

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The Mourning Cabinet

Cover image for The Mourning Cabinet

Memorial Traditions

Cover image for Memorial Traditions

The 1906 & 1989 Earthquakes

Cover image for The 1906 & 1989 Earthquakes

The Gilded Age

Cover image for The Gilded Age


Last updated: 03/30/2023


This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced.

The Cantor Arts Center encourages the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. Some images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights.

To purchase a high-resolution digital image for publication, request a high-resolution digital image for study, or request permission to use an image from our website of works in the Cantor Arts Center’s collection, please contact cantor_imagerequests@stanford.edu


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