TEXAS, HOUSTON: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF FUNERAL HISTORY

 November 29, 2022

Our last stop in Texas before flying home was one of the weirdest museums we have ever visited (aside from the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico). 

The 35,000-square-foot National Museum of Funeral History opened in 1992 and, according to their website, has the largest collection of funeral service artifacts in the country. (I can not imagine that any other place even comes close.) The museum's purpose is to "educate the public and preserve the heritage of death care."

I have to confess that I was intrigued just walking through the gift shop to buy our tickets. I could tell this was going to be an unusual experience, to say the least. I was happy to see Frida, but a death mask???

We began with the large Presidential Funeral Gallery.

Just after seeing this famous photo of five living Presidents standing together . . . 

. . . we started learning about their deaths and funerals, starting with George and Barbara Bush and moving backwards in time.

Where else can you see a replica of Reagan's mahogany casket, which weighs over 500 pounds empty?

Seeing old copies of the actual newspapers announcing the Presidents' deaths was fun. They had publications featuring the deaths of Nixon, Eisenhower, and LBJ:

There was quite a bit on President Kennedy's death.

They even had a model of the funeral cortege entering St. Matthew's Cathedral in New York City, a stunningly beautiful church we visited in 2017.

The museum has a replica of President Kennedy's mahogany casket, which weighed only about 400 pounds. The same model was used for Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Further back in time, there are news articles about the deaths of FDR, Truman, Wilson, Harding, and McKinley.

The President who took up the most floor and wall space (by far) was President Lincoln.

These "death masks" of Lincoln were created by artist S. J. Stout sometime in the second half of the 20th century.

I learned at the museum that Lincoln was interested in the embalming process. In the early stages of the Civil War, Lincoln asked that battlefield casualties be embalmed where possible so that they could be sent home for a funeral. I hadn't thought about the fact that Lincoln's body needed to be embalmed in order to make the 1,700 mile journey to Springfield, Illinois, where he was buried. 

Lincoln's coffin was 6' 6" in length (2" longer than he was tall) and made of solid walnut covered in heavy black cloth.

American Journalist George Alfred Townsend, who, at age 25, covered the assassination of Lincoln for the New York World, wrote a moving description of viewing Lincoln's body:

"Deeply ensconced in the white stuffing of his casket, the president lies like one asleep. . . . Death has fastened into the frozen face all the character and idiosyncrasy of life. It has not changed one line of his grave, grotesque countenance, nor smoothed out a single feature. The hue is rather bloodless and leaden, but he was always sallow. The dark eyebrows seem abruptly arched, the beard, which will grow no more, is shaved close, save the tuft at the short small chin. The mouth is shut, like that of one who had put the foot down firm, and so are the eyes, which look as calm as slumber. . . . [W]hatever energy or humor or tender gravity marked the living face is hardened into its pulseless outline. . . . All that we see of Abraham Lincoln, so cunningly contemplated in this splendid casket is a mere shell, an effigy, a sculpture. He lies in sleep, but it is the sleep of marble. All that made this flesh vital, sentient, and affectionate is gone forever."

I love this bronze bust but didn't get the name of the artist, although it reminds me of the busts of Lincoln by Daniel French. Lincoln looks tired, doesn't he?

The museum has a model of the above carriage and the six men bearing his casket.

There is also a photo of the train car that carried Lincoln's body, leaving Washington on April 21, 1865, and traveling 14 days to Springfield, Illinois, stopping along the way in Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago. At each stop the coffin was removed and taken to capitol buildings or city halls where huge funeral processions would pass by. 

Interesting fact: Mrs. Lincoln was too distraught to attend the funeral, and the President's son Robert Todd traveled directly to Springfield by another route, but Lincoln did not travel alone. The coffin holding the body of his beloved son Willie, who had died of a fever three years earlier, was exhumed and placed in the railway car with him.

Another model:

Despite the length of the journey through seven states and making twelve stops, the train arrived in Springfield only one hour late.

If there were earlier Presidential funerals covered, I didn't take pictures and therefore don't remember.

There were some interesting hearses on display, this one from the 1920s:

A 1929 Studebaker hearse:

A 1972 Japanese ceremonial hearse:

Then we got into the history of cremation, which was very interesting.

I was intrigued by this map showing cremation rates by state in 2008. In that year, 35.9% of people who died in the U.S. were cremated.

Nine years later, the cremation rate was 51.6%. That is a huge jump for nine years and probably has a lot to do with the rising cost of embalming and caskets.

The U.S. is still behind the rest of the world, however.

Ironically, I ran across this meme right about the time we were visiting the Museum of Funeral History. I think it fits in nicely here, don't you?

The museum also took a look at the history of mourning. I was intrigued by the use of photography to document death. In the Victorian Era, it was common to pose the deceased in a life-like position, such as sitting on a chair or in a mother's arms.

In the late 19th Century, a widow was expected to wear dull black (dress, purse, handkerchief, gloves) for the first full year following the death of her husband. During the first six months of the second year, she could wear black of a shinier material, and during the second six months the use of white and violet was permitted. After two years, she could go back to her usual wardrobe. A widower was also restricted to all dull black clothing with a plain white shirt.

During the 19th century, when a family member died the undertaker would come to the home to attend the deceased, and the body would then lie in the parlor for up to three days while friends and family visited.

Starting in the 1850s and continuing for several decades, one of the ways of preserving a body was the use of ice. A special coffin with a receptacle for ice in the bottom, sides, and even lid of the casket helped with temporary preservation.

As mentioned earlier, President Lincoln promoted the embalming of the Civil War dead so that dead soldiers could be returned to their homes and families. A portable tent used for the process was set up next to the battlefield.

Funeral homes began to pop up in the 1920s and early 1930s, and the process of embalming moved out of the home.

Of course, the United States didn't invent the embalming process. That started a LONG time ago in Egypt.

We didn't come up with the idea of coffins either. Coffins in ancient Egypt were shaped like the human figure and decorated with idealized images of the body inside.

Not to be outdone by the Egyptians, however, the museum showcased some very creative 21st century coffins designed by artist Kane Quaye of Ghana:

Bob has requested a lobster coffin. 

If you want to be buried as a family, you might be interested in this three-person coffin:

Another really fascinating display that took up a lot of square footage in the Funeral History Museum was an exhibit focusing on The Lives and Deaths of the Popes. The exhibit begin with information about Saint Peter, the first Pope.

Like the display focused on the lives and deaths of Presidents of the United States, there are lots of newspaper articles about papal funerals on display.

I was impressed by this poster showing the 266 Popes who have preceded the current one, Pope Frances.

Here are the five (plus Pope Francis) who have served during my lifetime:

It was interesting to learn more about the papacy in general. For example, the Pope has a throne that he uses when he celebrates mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Each Pope has his own style. The one on display is a replica of the elaborate throne used by Benedict XVI (a wax figure here), Pope from 2005 to 2013.

You can see the dramatic difference between his throne and the "throne" of the current Pope, Frances.

I enjoyed the media coverage of Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II. I love the photo of Pope John Paul with Mother Teresa.

I learned quite a lot about papal clothing. This white dress is a cassock, and it often has 33 buttons down the front to symbolize the life of Jesus. Only the Pope can wear a white cassock. Other Catholic clergy wear black with various colors of piping related to their rank.

The history of the skull cap is interesting (see below). Again, only the Pope can wear white.

Left Photo: The Pope wears a large cross on a chain, a 7-9 foot-long stole that represents the yoke mentioned in the Gospel ("Take my yoke upon you . . . "), red leather shoes (although John Paul II did not wear them and neither does Pope Frances), and the Ring of the Fisherman. A new ring is actually cast for each pontiff but always features an image of St. Peter fishing from a boat along with the Pope's unique coat of arms.

Right Photo: The wardrobe of other members of the clergy include the mitre, or ceremonial hat, the crosier (pastoral staff that is a crucifix on a staff rather than a shepherd's crook), the pallium, that is placed over the shoulders and hangs down on the chest, and the red chasuble (robe) worn over the white alb.

When a Pope dies, the papal ring is removed from his finger and crushed with a silver hammer in the presence of the College of Cardinals. Then the Pope's living area is cordoned off and wax seals are placed on the entrances until a new Pope is elected. Cardinals are summoned to Vatican City to attend the papal funeral and elect a new Pope.

The body of the Pope is dressed in his vestments and placed on a sloped bed. His head rests on three gold pillows. He is attended by the Swiss Guards as Vatican officials and some government officials visit. 

Eventually his body is ceremoniously moved through St. Peter's Square and into the Basilica, trailed by the  College of Cardinals. 

The Pope's body is on display before the altar until the Requiem Mass. There  is a wax recreation of the scene in the Funeral History Museum.

At some point the body is placed in a wooden casket.

Most Popes are entombed in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica. The Museum has a replicca of Pope John Paul II's burial crypt in the Grottoes, a cemetery beneath the Basilica where St. Peter is also believed to be buried.

Even I was hitting funeral overload by this point, but we had one more exhibit to check out, the "Thanks for the Memories" room, which is basically a tribute to some of the famous people who have died in the last 50 years or so.

In no particular order, there are tributes to Bob Hope, Elvis Presley . . . 

Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant . . . 

Lucille Ball . . .

and Robin Williams:

They have created an exact replica of Marilyn Monroe's crypt in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her funeral arrangements were handled by her former husband, Joe DiMaggio, and included only 31 close family and friends. DiMaggio saw to it that fresh red roses were placed in a vase attached to the crypt for the next 20 years. Apparently thousands of fans visit Marilyn's crypt every year, and the cemetery has to periodically replace the crypt front due to all the kissing and touching it gets.

One display honors "The 27 Club," a group of 63 (as of May 2022) famous musicians who all died at age 27, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse.

There is also a tribute to the crew of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded shortly after take-off on January 28, 1986.

Well, speaking of taking off, that's what we did next. For the FIFTH VISIT TO TEXAS in just a few years, this was a pretty good trip. (But I am ready for a new destination when we travel domestic again, okay, Bob?)

Nest up: ECUADOR!