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In Victorian Times, many families would take "death portraits" of recently-deceased family members.

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Photography was new, and expensive, so most regular folks didn't have pictures of their loved ones.

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Also known as "post-mortem photography," the practice flourished with people who wanted a keepsake of their deceased family members.

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Since infant and childhood mortality were so high, the subjects were often children.

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Many people preferred to have a photo of their dead relative than no photo at all.

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Death portraits often included the person's favorite things, like this sweet photo of a man with his dogs.

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Subjects could be posed as though they were asleep. The little girl on the right may have been sitting for this portrait for hours with her dead sister.

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Or they could be positioned so they didn't fall over.

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This photo includes the littlest child, who's being propped up to fall in line with her siblings.

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This man's arm is being used to hold up his head.

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The baby in this photo is actually sitting on someone's lap.

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It's hard to believe this guy is dead, he's standing with such an upright bearing.

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Someone is probably underneath that curtain to help this little boy stand.

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This incredibly tragic photo shows a whole young family who died together. They may have died in an accident, given their visible injuries.

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Even beloved pets could have death photos taken.

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Since the exposure time was so long, any movements would cause blurring in the photo. You can tell the woman in the middle is deceased because she's perfectly clear.

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This little one was posed to look asleep.

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This poor family lost two littles ones at the same time.

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This little guy is posed with his favorite toy, a stick and hoop.

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And this one likely had its eyes painted open.

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Some families would have cards made and mailed to relatives who lived far away.

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And a mother holding her child who died. It's sort of sad, but also sort of sweet.

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According to the note above the photo, this girl was photographed 4 days after her death, but she looks remarkably alive.

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Two years after death!

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Sometimes the portrait would be with the whole family.

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Flowers were a popular prop. This girl is beautifully posed as though she's arranging white roses.

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This young woman's pose looks pretty and natural, but her eyes don't look quite alive.

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The little girl on the right has had her hair cut short, suggesting that her baby brother died of a fever.

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This young woman seems to have been photographed in her wedding veil.

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This girl is posed with her eyes open, as though she had just looked up from her book.

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Here's the person who passed away, surrounded by loved ones.

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This poor man is looking down at his wife's face, perhaps for the last time.