The Book of Small Dignities

A gray vinyl daybook from a fictional funeral home in central Illinois follows one director's work from 1979 to 2018. Five entries preserve the small decisions around wakes, burials, and cremations that never make it into an obituary: a blouse under a favorite cardigan, a cigarette burn left in a railroad man's suit, a paper cup beside a hand, a bus transfer returned to a coat pocket, and a baseball game that begins at four.

Note: the notebook and all persons described are fictional, created in the tradition of found-object storytelling.