National Museum of Funeral History

Recently, we took a trip to the National Museum of Funeral History.

My experience was different than what I expected. The Museum is divided into different parts, honoring different categories of people. I started at the area honoring the unknown soldiers at Washington, D.C. Here, I learned the high respect and devotion of volunteering soldiers to guard the tomb of the unknown soldiers, one from World War I and several from World War II. Honoring these few unknown men is meant to honor the rest of the fallen American heroes who served our country so faithfully. It considered the highest honor to serve as a guard of the tomb of the unknown soldiers. The guard changes every hour by day and every two hours by night. Reading and watching this memorial to our soldiers really placed me in awe and a greater respect for our service men.

Nearby is the presidential funeral history, with newspapers and evidence surrounding the different presidents. I truly enjoyed looking at the newspapers and seeing the difference between today’s newspapers and the unfolding of history contained in them. I felt as if I was touching history! It was interesting to note the different deaths of the presidents and how the public was lied to about John Booth being found and executed when he was not. I would have loved to be able to open the confidential book displayed near Lincoln that explained in detail this assassination! (It was in a glass case)

Afterwards, I proceeded to an area that highlighted the deaths of major icons in history. I found it interesting to find Snow White’s casket and how short it was! It truly looked as if it was made for the size of a child, not a young woman. 

 I saw memorials to Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor and was shocked to see how their death had taken place several years ago when it seemed still so recent. To me, it showed how people’s images fade less slowly than they do. Also, the people that are still alive, who loved that lost person, are the one’s who keep that person ‘alive” in society and unforgotten.

The museum has a wide variety of antique and vintage funeral transportation. There are nine early horse drawn hearses and along with different evolving automobiles. Each of these has a wide “back” that sets it apart for funeral service. My favorite transportation was a bus that was the longest automobile present. Instead of placing the coffin in traditionally with the long sides parallel to the sides of the vehicle, the coffin is placed in with the short sides parallel to the vehicle’s sides. This way, the coffin can take up less space and can allow a third part to the bus for carrying twenty passengers aboard. I truly loved the layout of this car and think we should still make funeral vehicles similar to it. The bus at the museum is the only one left of its kind.

My favorite 20 people carrying bus! You get in the last door open at the end.

Next, I entered the area on the history of embalming people. "Embalming" means to remove the liquid from the inside of the body and dry it out, so that it stays in tact for proper viewing and then for the funeral. The reason why the viewing of the body became so important and customary was that at many times, graveyards were recycled. One day, some men turned up some coffins and discovered claw-marks all inside. They realized that many people had been buried alive and awoke after being unconscious and had tried to claw their way out in desperation. Realizing this, promoted the viewing of the body before burial to see if perhaps the person would re-awake. Family or hired help stayed with the body for a couple of days and even tied a rope to the deceased, attached to a bell, in case the person revived.

 The Egyptians were the first to do an excellent job of embalming their dead. They took out all the internal organs except the heart, as it was important in the afterlife, and put them in jars (except the brain-they did not think it was important). Then they would fill the body with linen to dry it out and message perfumes and oils into the body and wrap it with several hundred yards of linen. Ramses the Great’s corpse is currently on display in the Cairo museum for demonstrating how well preserved the bodies were by the Egyptians. This whole process took many days and was attributed to their god, Anubis.

Not until the Civil War, did embalming become important. Dr. Thomas Holmes is attributed to being the “father of American embalming”. He noticed that the bodies were usually preserved in a zinc, arsenic, or mercury based form and how it was harmful to medical students when they studied the bodies. Dr. Holmes studied Egyptian mummies and created his own arterial solution “Inominata” (sold for $3) and injection. He embalmed over 4,000 people in the civil war and then shipped the bodies to the parents for a proper burial.

Another very commonly used preservation was the ice box. Ice was placed underneath a board and then the body lain on top with a lid sealing it shut. During the civil war, a wicker basket was used to transport men with amputated legs and were called “a basket case”. Later, as hospital deaths became more common, the deceased were carried in the baskets to the funeral homes.

book teaching students how to embalm people

In the Victorian times, the undertaker would come to the home to do the work and leave the body at the home till the viewing and funeral. It was common to take the dead person’s hair and make jewelry from it to wear as remembrance. Also, the flower bouquets were usually preserved and showcased in the home along with memorial pictures of the deceased. Society was very harsh on women of deceased husbands. They had to wear all black for two years straight and were forbidden to attend any social events or parties. They could not wear either any special material, to show that the joy of their life was gone. It was common for these women to wear black for the rest of their life.

Everything had to be black!

 In the 1920’s funeral homes came to a rise since society began to die mostly in hospitals. The gravity bottle was used mostly at this time until the 1960’s with electrical powered ones. Later, embalming by injection became standard.

They could mix all their poisonous chemicals!

Death is a part of life. We all must face it one day. 

Psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, says that people adjust to death in different ways.

The initial reaction, once someone has found out that they are dying is first denial, then anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance (pp. 443-444, General Psychology textbook). Although each person can be different. 

After viewing this museum, I have come to a better understanding of why we have funerals. By honoring our dead, it is a way for us to say goodbye and let go of our loved ones. 

The revelation that I have had from looking at a corpse is that I hardly see the person I loved. The corpse seems cold and distant. The person I remember is full of personality and joy.

This is due to the fact that who we are is not our "earth suit". The corpse does not define who we are but is a means to communicate with others and share who we are. Who we are is our spirit and without it, a body looks empty and void. Our spirit defines who we are. 

Personally, I do not want my family and friends to have their last memory of me to be my empty corpse. I want the loving memories they have to be their best remembrance of me. So I do not want my body to be viewed, but to have just a burial. Although, I want it to be a celebration and not a time of gloom, for I will be in a wonderful place and they will see me again soon.