HISTORY LESSON

HISTORY LESSON
Museum exhibits
Some other memorable aspects of funeral history gleaned from exhibits include:
In a practice that still exists in smaller towns today, many of the funeral homes were run by the owners of furniture stores. "The furniture makers in a town were the ones who had access to quality wood for a casket and also the expertise to build one," Meyers said.
Before paramedic organizations existed, the funeral home usually operated the town's ambulance service. "They were the only business that had a long enough vehicle to accommodate a prone body," Austin said.
And the undertaking business, specifically when it came to embalmers, was ahead of most of American society by training women for a profession outside of teaching and nursing. Women embalmers were relatively common in the early 1900s, but it was for somewhat Victorian reasons. "It was considered improper for a man to see someone's wife naked, even if she was dead," Austin explained. "So, many funeral homes had female embalmers."