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Funeral Museum Gets Coffin, Dumps Skeleton
The Museum of Funeral Customs in Springfield, Illinois, calls itself the second-largest funeral museum in America (trailing only the Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas.) In mid-October its curator was delighted to learn that a rare casket -- an 1870s-vintage model with a full-length glass top for viewing the body -- had been discovered in nearby Litchfield. The coffin had been hidden in a secret cupboard in an old building, and the Museum wanted it for its collection.
There was, however, a catch.
Inside the coffin, clearly visible through its glass top, was a human skeleton.
Awkward, said the Museum. But not a problem.
The skeleton was probably not the coffin's original occupant, although no one knows for sure. The casket had been the property of a long-defunct chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, whose lodge members evidently used it in secret initiation rites. It had been painted bright orange, leading the Museum to speculate that it, and its occupant, had also been props in Odd Fellows lodge Halloween shenanigans.
The skeleton, which was wired in such a way that its jaw could move, was estimated by a Litchfield doctor to have been a young man who died around 1900.
The Museum of Funeral Customs has arranged with the Illinois State Museum, also in Springfield, to take the skeleton, while it takes the casket. The State Museum promises to make good use of the bones, although probably not nearly as good as the Odd Fellows.
[11/04/2006]- Directions:
- Was SE of Illinois State Fairgrounds, at the entrance to Oak Ridge Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln is buried.
- Hours:
- Closed in early 2009.
- Status:
- Gone
- Springfield, Illinois - Museum of Funeral Customs
"Death is only the beginning" is the motto of the Museum of Funeral Customs. The museum examines the history of funeral practices and mourning in the United States with a specific emphasis (as with all of Springfield, IL) on the mid 1800s and Lincoln.
Discover the difference between a "coffin" and a "casket." Learn about "home embalming" methods. There is a coffin set-up from a Roman Catholic funeral home so realistic that I started to kneel and do the sign of the cross. Watch a video on Lincoln's Funeral Train. Fantastic items in the gift shop, including t-shirts with the motto and chocolate coffins. What says "family fun" more than a visit to a museum focused on funerals?!
[Lauren Skerrett, 09/26/2006] A new museum that showcases the history of American funeral service from 1840 to the present. Its major themes are: "The Art and Science of Embalming," "The Rise of the Profession," "The Funeral," and "Grief and Mourning in America." The Museum also has a collection of library material that dates dack to the mid-16th century. Exhibits include two horse-drawn hearses, a recreated embalming room from the 1920s, a home funeral circa 1870, a reproduction of Abraham Lincoln's coffin, scale models of Lincoln's railroad coach, and a ceremonial funeral arch erected for Lincoln's Chicago funeral. Visitors also see many styles of caskets and coffins, instruments, mourning clothing, and jewelry.
[Jon Austin, 04/24/2002]New museum owned and operated by Illinois Funeral Directors Association -- 3,500 square feet of exhibits, professionally operated. Contains instruments, chemicals, coffins, caskets, advertising, textbooks and photos. Re-created 1920s embalming room. Replica of Abraham Lincoln's casket. Re-created victorian parlor setup for a funeral. Duplicate of JFK's and Richard Nixon's caskets. Two full-size horse-drawn funeral hearses. Rotating exhibits as well.
[Jeff Hendricks, 03/26/2002]Historic bone yard home yours for the asking: New funeral museum to rise in its place
The caretaker's home near Springfield IL's historic Oak Ridge Cemetery is the subject of a tug-of-war: the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency wants to keep it, the Illinois Funeral Director's Association wants to knock it down.
In its place, the funeral directors want to build a museum (perhaps they've seen the National Funeral Director's Museum in Texas). Oak Ridge Cemetery has the grave of President Lincoln -- but his tourist appeal has lagged in recent years compared to other, more recently dead, people.
The funeral directors hope the museum -- which will display pieces of Lincoln's and George Washington's coffins -- will attract more visitors to the cemetery. We're not sure who's been digging out chunks of presidential coffins, but perhaps that will be explained by the exhibit.
Preservationists cry that not only is the doomed house listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but that the proposed 5,000-square-foot museum will dwarf area homes and detract from the neighborhood.
The funeral association counters that it offered to give away the house to anyone who wanted to move it someplace else, and even offered to throw in $5,000 for expenses, but there were no takers.
If anyone wants a historic graveyard caretaker's house they should contact the Illinois Funeral Director's Association quickly; it's scheduled to be demolished in July.
[06/28/1998]
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