Funeral History Midterm Study Guide

first trade paper

"The Undertaker" - 1871 and in 1876 "The Casket," which became the most prestigious trade paper of the century was published in Rochester, NY

casket salesmen

"drummers" and were the best source of information about what was happening in the funeral industry.

Basar

(Hebrew) Flesh (body)

Nefesh

(Hebrew) breath

Fasting

(Hebrew) for the dead usually ended at evening on the day of death

Hired mourners

(Hebrew) the wailing of the family and had a repertory of laments which they addressed to the dead. For important people they prepared special dirges.

"Protection from the Dead"

(Scandinavian) Cremation; keeping spirits of the dead from harming the living.

"Journey to the Land of the Dead"

(Scandinavian) ship burial in the Viking Age in Norway.

The American Board of Funeral Service Education

- Is the accrediting agency for all Mortuary Colleges

Mrs. Benjamin Birch

1820 - advertised in Montreal, Canada as an upholsterer and undertaker.

Edwin Chadwick

1831 - 1833 - 31,000 deaths in England, and 21,000 in Ireland led to the establishment of a public health agency. In 1839 Chadwick began investigating corruption in funeral practices in England. Many of his recommendations were incorporated into a Public Health Bill.

Wrapping

20-30 sheets of linen cloth or papyus saturated in resign, plaster of paris, or gum acaria and placed over the wrapped body wet.

Blanch White

Advertised in the New York Journal of General Advertisers, January 7, 1768, Upholsterer and Undertaker - Funerals furnished with all things necessary and proper attendance as in England.

Inviter to Funerals

Called personally on those expected to attend the funeral. They were to receive equal profits and were to attend the burial of the poor without charge.

prohibited during the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.)

Cremation

Crane and Breed - 1893

Exhibited the most elaborate and outstanding funeral car of the 19th century at the Chicago World's Fair. It featured a church-like design; massive carvings; gildings; heavy gold fringes and tassels; and lamps of gold. It was laden with gold angels and cherubs; crucifixes and statues; a processional scene over the middle glass in which the Saviour was depicted bearing the cross and preceded by the two thieves, the two Marys, a throng of Roman soldiers and others.

Constintine

First Christian Emperor (314-379 AD)

Bearers

Four of the oldest or most prominent men that carried the bier. After coffins were introduced and added weight, there were under bearers to relieve the bearers.

Libitina

Goddess of corpses and funerals

Sheol

Hebrew netherworld

Surgeon (Embalmer)

His assistants proceeded with the embalming operation. His assistants embalmed the lesser class under his instruction, he embalmed the princes and nobleman himself.

Sarcophagi

In early history a stone coffin was cut from a single mass of stone. The body of the coffin was without seams and the cover fit it tightly.

Independent Bone Burial

In order to transport bodies that died away from their homes, the bodies were cut up, boiled to extract the bone, and the bones were brought back for burial.

The Sin-eater

It was believed that a man could take unto himself the sins of the deceased by eating a loaf of bread and drinking a bowl of beer over the corpse, and by accepting a six-pence.

John R. Cannon

Received a patent for "coffins of glass"

designator

Roman master of ceremonies

The Yakhu

Shining One

The Ba

Soul

The Plagues (black Death)

The bubonic plague had been sweeping over the world since the dawn of history, and in 6th Century A.D. the plague entered Europe. In 542 it killed 10,000 people in one day in Constantinople.

17th & 18th century coffin burial

The early colonists were buried without coffins, but with increasing prosperity, coffin burial became the norm.

"undertaker"

The first half of the 19th century is crucially important in the evolution of the modern funeral director, because this period witnessed all the basic undertaking functions being gathered and organized under a conventionally recognized name

Tradesman Undertaker

The first undertakers in America

The Great Plague of London, 1664-1665

There were 68,596 deaths out of a population of 460,000.

Town Undertakers

These were hired to serve as health officials or coroners, as well as undertaker

Life Signals

These were inventions designed to prevent people from being buried alive. One invention was for a spring lid that would spring open if the occupant moved. This was only good before burial. Those for after burial included a cord attached to a bell; one with a tube attached to a rope in the deceased hand that would set off an electrical alarm; and one elaborate devise that would release a flag about a foot above the grave.

Also Rans

These were other receptacles that were produced that did not gain popular acceptance. - These included patents for coffins of stone, cement, terra cotta, plastic, and glass coffins.

Independent Heart Burial

This began as an act of dismembering parts of the bodies of saints and martyrs and preserving them as holy relics. This grew to medieval visceral embalming that removed the viscera, brain, eyes and sometimes the tongue & place them in a cask which was often buried later with the embalmed body or multiple burial sites. Not even a papal decree was able to stamp out this practice. The practice was continued into the 19th Century.

The Burial in Woolen Act of 1666

This law provided that wool must be substituted for linen in shrouds and linings of coffins.

The International Conference of Funeral Service Education

Was established in 1903 when a group of state licensing boards came together in St. Louis to discuss their common problems in transporting bodies across state lines. Later the organization began to consider the question of accrediting schools of Mortuary Science and Education and a system of grading schools was established. In 1930 the Conference established the first National Board Examination

The bier

a hand-stretcher on which the uncoffined body was carried to the grave.

Livery stable owners

also provided carriages and horses and became involved in undertaking

Coffin making materials

baked clay, wood, stone

Cabinet-makers

became coffin-makers and began providing funeral paraphernalia and undertaking.

Monothesim

belief in one god

(Mourning colors) Persians & Abyssinians

brown

began in 1,000 BC in Greece

cremation

Designer (Painter)

designed and painted the cartonage & coffin. Also inscribed passages of various texts on the mummy cloths

Dissector (Anatomist)

disemboweled and washed the body

Funeral Feasts

feast to welcome the principal heir to his new estate

Style E State Casket - 1885

for the funeral of Ex-President U.S. Grant. - Covered with black broadcloth, heavy silver metal mountings, flat top, with full French plate glass. The pillow had the General's initials embroidered on it.

The Act of 1547

forbid burial between 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.

Osiris

god of underworld/judge of dead

Fred Hulberg - 1908

in New York City, obtained patents on eight gasoline powered combined hearse and passenger vehicles

James Cunningham - 1884

invented the "funeral car" - It was rectangular, and had a hip roof, five urns, and at each corner a gilded column.

origin of the word hearse

is the French word herse, which in turn is taken from the Latin hirpex, meaning a rake.

(Mourning colors) Armenians & Syrians

light blue

first coffins

made of wood. Different varieties of wood revealed the economic status of the person. Poorer - Pine, painted with a mixture of lamp black and glue water. Well-to-do - Hardwoods, polished or stained (trimmings and fittings were imported during the 1700s - the manufacture of these began after 1800.) The shape was nearly always octagonal.

Death Crier (Death Watch)

made the announcement of death. He dressed in black and had the skull & cross bones on the front & back of his gown. He rang a bell as he went through the streets.

Stewart of the Guild

made the necessary funeral arrangements

Sarcophagus

means "flesh eater".

Allen Durfee - 1880

organized the first State Convention of Undertakers in Michigan

The Sexton

originally an under officer of the church. He had the responsibilities of the care of church property, the ringing of bells, and frequently of digging the graves. During this time frame, the undertaking tasks were performed by the officials of the church

1859 - The Metallic Burial Casket

patented by A.C. Barstow with a change in design, but there is no one company or person that can be traced to the origin of the straight-sided American casket.

Ker-heb

priest or physician who superintended the embalming & the funeral arrangements- entombment took place some 2-3 months after death. Was in complete charge.

(Mourning colors) Royalty & many Christian groups

purple

anthropoid coffin

resembling human shape. face of the dead was carved in wood and later by cartonage.

Furnishing undertakers

supplied coffin furniture - decorations, plates, handles, etc. to the coffin makers. (They were first call coffin shops and coffin warehouses)

Praeco

the crier; summoned people to participate in public funeral

pollinctores

the embalmers

Libitinarius

the head undertaker or funeral director.

Soul Shot

the mortuary fee of the guild - if anyone died, the members of the guild paid a penny for the good of the soul.

burial clubs

these clubs were formed to assist people of the working classes to help defray the heavy expenses of a funeral. The members paid a small regular fee called a quarterage.

William Cooley

was the first to offer "caskets" to the American public.

A waxen effigy

waxen death mask) was made of the nobility as soon as possible after their death. The waxen presentment was exhibited in church in place of the real body. The first tomb effigies were made of wood, plated over with bronze or copper, plain or gilt. Later brass was used and some effigies on monuments were made of silver.

Feudal Funerals

were elaborate affairs. Included were yards of black material for the chief rooms and the staircase, an elaborate black mourning bed, funeral carriages, a velvet pall, a hearse with hatchment or panel upon which the deceased's arms were temporarily displayed, mourning clothes and mourning gifts. These goods were enormously expensive even for the very wealthy. In 1698 a group of men called undertakers emerged to provide funeral paraphernalia.

Nurses & Midwives

were the first besides the family to care for the dead. In 1810, three nurses were listed in the Philadelphia City Directory as "Layers out of the Dead"

(Mourning colors) Black came into vogue in 1498

when Anne, the widow of Charles VIII of France substituted black for white.

Elysian Fields

where the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and virtuous

(Mourning colors) Chinese

white

(Mourning colors) practices of the Roman Empire

white

Craftsmen

who came to America from England that were cabinet-makers were most likely the first coffin-makers, which was probably a side business.

(Mourning colors)Egyptian & Burmese

yellow