Humanities Ph.D. student, Lisa Wichowski-Hill, will defend her dissertation titled "Suffering and Solace: Photography and Trauma in a Changing Nation". Her dissertation investigates how photographic practices shaped and were shaped by American death culture across this century. From battlefield images that confronted ideals of the "good death" to intimate postmortem portraits created for grieving families, photography became a crucial site of negotiation for the meanings of life, death, and grief. By examining the historical context, technological developments, and cultural uses of photography, this study reveals a narrative of loss, adaptation, and transformation that reflects both private and public experiences of mortality.