National Museum of Funeral History

The purpose of the National Museum of Funeral History (the Museum) is to educate and inform the general public about the funeral service industry and its history. Through the Museum's permanent archives that document and chronicle the evolution of the funeral service profession, and through its collections of artifacts and historical data, exhibits, dioramas, and programs, the Museum serves as an education and information center. Continued on Schedule O Educational tours provide information to persons wishing to study death, dying and the sociology of funeral rituals and funeral customs in the past and present. Tours are held on a regular basis for funeral service professionals, junior high, high school and university students, members of the clergy, and the general public. The Museum also serves as a library for scholarly research in the areas of funeral service, the American funeral ritual, the sociology of death in America, and other funeral-related topics. This information is available through funeral documents, artifacts, exhibits, dioramas, and other presentations. Through research of the artifacts and historical data, patrons are able to develop theories about death and study death and dying from a fundamental perspective.The Museum receives donations of documents and artifacts on a regular basis. These donations are carefully documented, preserved and archived for use in future exhibits or are included in current exhibits and vignettes.As an ongoing resource for clergy, the Museum holds tours for clergy from across the state. During the tours, funeral service professionals speak on such topics as "The Value of the Funeral and "Grief and Recovery from Loss."