AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE OAK RIDGE CEMETERY IN SPRINGFIELD IS A PLACE THAT CRON
KELS THE CHANGES IN OUR
SOCIETY'S BURIAL PRACTICES.
IT IS THE MUSEUM OF FUNERAL
CUSTOMS.
>> ILLINOIS FUNERAL DIRECTOR'S
ASSOCIATION DEVELOPED A DREAM 35
YEARS AGO, AND THE OUTGROWTH OF
THAT DREAM WAS TO CREATE A
PERMANENT MUSEUM WHERE HISTORY
OF GRIEF AND MOURNING CUSTOMS IN
AMERICA AND THE HISTORY OF THE
FUNERAL PROFESSION COULD BE
SHOWCASED.
>> PRIOR TO THE MID 1800'S,
UNDERTAKERS USUALLY GAVE THE
DECEASED SURFACE TREATMENT.
EMBALMING WASN'T NECESSARY SINCE
FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD IN
THE HOME SHORTLY AFTER DEATH.
THE CIVIL WAR CHANGED THAT.
(GUNSHOTS).
>> NOW THE BODIES HAD TO BE
SHIPPED HOME, AND THE PRACTICE
OF EMBALMING GREW, A PRACTICE
DRAMATICALLY BROUGHT TO THE
PUBLIC BY AN ASSASSINATION.
ON DISPLAY ARE TRAIN CARS THAT
CARRY LINCOLN'S BODY AND OF THE
CASKET.
>> LINCOLN'S FUNERAL WAS THE
FIRST GREAT STATE FUNERAL IN
AMERICA.
THE FACT THAT LINCOLN EL BALMED
AND COS MA ADVERTISED BODY WAS
AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING BY SO MANY
PEOPLE OVER A THREE WEEK PERIOD
APPROXIMATELY, CONFIRMED IN THE
MINDS OF THE PUBLIC THE BENEFITS
OF EMBALMING AND THE GROWING
PRACTICE OF MORE FORMALIZED
FUNERAL SERVICE.
WHAT WE HAVE CREATED THROUGH A
SERIES OF CASE EXHIBITS IS A
DEMONSTRATION OF THE SHIFT IN
THE TECHNOLOGY IN EMBALMING.
THE EARLIEST METHODS OF
EMBALMING INVOLVED SMALL HAND
PUMPS THAT WOULD CREATE ENOUGH
PRESSURE IN ORDER TO EVACUATE
BLOOD AND ANY BOD BODILY FLUIDS
THAT WOULD BE REPLACED BY
EMBALMING FLUID.
THAT TECHNOLOGY WAS REPLACED BY
GRAVITY BASED SYSTEM.
>> AS THE UPON LAR -- AS THE
POPULARITY OF EMBALMING GREW,
THE SCHOOLING GREW, TOO.
BUT AS THIS DISPLAY REMINDS
VISITORS, THE PROFESSION CHANGED
AGAIN DURING THE 19 20'S.
>> IT WAS DWALES DURING THE 19
20'S, THAT MOST COMMUNITIES
BEGAN TO SEE THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF A FUNERAL HOME OR MORTUARY
PRIOR TO THE 19 20'S AND EVEN
DURING THE 19 20'S AND INTO THE
1930'S, THE UNDERTAKER WOULD GO
OUT TO THE HOME WITH PORTABLE
EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS, TREAT THE
INDIVIDUAL THERE, AND THEN THE
FUNERAL WOULD BE HELD IN THE
INDIVIDUAL'S HOME.
ERE ON
DISPLAY, WE HAVE TWO PEACE OF
PORTABLE FURNITURE CALLED
COOLING BOARD.
THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR WOULD TAKE
THEM OUT TO THE DECEASED'S HOME
IN ORDER TO PREPARE THE BODY FOR
INTERMENT.
SMALLER ONE IN FRONT WAS USE FOR
A CHILD.
IT HAS A KANEED SURFACE IN ORDER
TO ALLOW COOL VAPORS TO RISE UP
THROUGH THE SURFACE AND COOL
VAPORS WOULD COME FROM PANS OF
ICE THAT COULD BE PLACED UNDER
THE BOARD.
HAT WE HAVE HERE IS SLIGHTLY
EARLIER DEVICE, FIRST PATENTED
IN THE EARLY 1870'S REFERRED TO
AS AN ICE CASKET.
IT WAS SIMPLY DESIGNED TO CHILL
THE BODY IN AN ENCLOSED
CONTAINER THAT THROUGH A WINDOW
AT THE HEAD END OF THE CASE
ALLOWED VISITORS TO VIEW THE
DECEASED, BUT INSIDE THERE IS A
COOLING BOARD WHICH ALSO ALLOWED
THE COOL VAPORS OF MELTING ICE
WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN PLACED IN
THE TIN TRAY HERE TO DEFEND AND
SURROUND THE BODY.
>> BUT THIS IS NOT THE ODDEST OF
CASKETS THE MUSEUM HAS ON
DISPLAY.
THERE ARE THESE TWO CAST IRON
BURIAL CASES.
>> THEY WERE BASED ON DESIGNS
CREATED IN THE LATE 1840'S BY
GENTLEMAN NAMED ALMOND FISK.
THE TWO TOE MUSEUM ARE
DIFFERENT.
ONE IS HEAVILY DRAPED, VERY
ROMANTIC, VICTORIAN IN IT'S A
PERIENCE.
THE OTHER IS A MUCH MORE
TRADITIONAL COFFIN STYLE, EVEN
THOUGH IT IS MADE OUST CAST
IRON, AND THESE ARE VERY UNUSUAL
BECAUSE THEY WERE VERY EXPENSIVE
TET THEY WERE PRODUCED.
THEY WERE DESIGNED TO ENSURE
THAT THE DECEASED WOULD RECEIVE
MUCH LONGER TERM PRESERVATION.
SEVERAL CASKETS HAVE BEEN
DISINTERRED, AND THE INDIVIDUALS
WHO ARE INTERED INSIDE WERE
FOUND TO BE IN A PERFECT STATE
OF PRESERVATION, AND SOME OF
THESE INDIVIDUALS HAD BEEN
INTERED AS MANY AS 80 TO A
HUNDRED YEARS PRIOR TO THE
DISCOVERY.
HAVE A VARIETY OF REACTION, ALL OF WHICH HAVE BEEN VERY POSITIVE.
MANY OF OUR VISITORS COME TO
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT GOES ON
BEHIND THE SCENES IN FUNERAL
SERVICE.
MANY COME FROM THE INTEREST TO
LEARN MORE ABOUT AMERICAN SOCIAL
HISTORY.
>> IN ADDITION TO ITS MAIN
DISPLAYS, THE MUSEUM HAS AN AREA
SET ASIDE FOR TEMPORARY EXHIBITS
WHICH CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
>> TO REACH THE MUSEUM OF FUNERAL CUSTOMS (217)544-3484 OR GO TO THEIR WEB SITE AT W
WWW.FUNERAL MUSEUM.COM.