National Museum of Funeral History

While cremation and green burial seem poised to define funeral trends for the future, a Houston museum is home to the rich history and tradition of funeral customs around the world.

When Robert L. Waltrip founded the National Museum of Funeral History (NMFH) in 1992, he fulfilled a 25-year desire to build an institution to educate the public and preserve the history of the funeral industry. A 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, the NMFH is supported through fundraising efforts, private donations and admission fees.

With over 35,500 square feet of exhibition space, the NMFH is the largest educational center devoted to funeral history in the U.S. and perhaps the entire world. For those who can’t get to Houston to visit the museum in person, virtual exhibits, image collections and narrative descriptions of many artifacts are available for viewing on the NMFH website.

Funerals in Culture and History
One of NMFH’s most fascinating exhibits features the creations of Kane Quaye (1927-1992), co-author with Christine M. Kreamer of A Life Well Lived: Fantasy Coffins of Kane Quaye and pioneer of Ghana’s fantasy coffin industry. The exhibit – a permanent part of the NMFH collections – includes 12 handcrafted coffins resembling everything from a KLM airliner to a fish, each designed by Quaye to capture the essence of the deceased.

History buffs will also enjoy exhibits featuring antique hearses, a 1900s casket factory, a lesson on Civil War embalming, and a look into the elaborate funeral rites and customs surrounding the deaths of the Popes.

Mortuary Memorabilia
What’s a museum without a gift shop? The NMFH is hardly the Met, but fans of gallows humor and all things funeral can shop ‘til they drop at the NMFH gift shop. The inventory includes such offbeat merchandise as Undertaker Spring Water, model funeral cars, Spooky Town collectible figurines and silver coffin earrings.