Jessie Farber, the leading expert on early American gravestones, died on January 5, 2013. As a youth, she and her siblings toured the country as ranked junior tennis players. She graduated with a math degree from Mississippi University for Women and earned an M.A. in physical education from Texas Women’s University. Jessie Farber’s athletic talents served her well in her work as a physical educator, teaching swimming and tennis at colleges and universities all over the country, including the University of Florida, the University of Wisconsin, and Mount Holyoke College, where she served as chairman of the department for twelve years. A strong interest in early American gravestone carvings led her to do research at AAS, where she met her future husband, AAS member Daniel Farber (elected 1967), who was the foremost photographer of this particular sculptural form. Together they toured the eastern United States and obtained over 14,000 images of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century gravestones. She was a founding member of the Association for Gravestone Studies, for which she served as editor of its first newsletter and journal. AAS now owns the large-format negatives of the Farber Collection of Early American Gravestones and hosts a digital version of the collection.
Portsmouth, NH
United States