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By the start of the 20th century, the relationship between the living and the dead in the United States had begun to change dramatically. In many ways, the intimacy that had connected the physical remains with a community of family and friends was gradually being supplanted by a gaping social divide. In large part, the divide was produced by three social factors: changes in demographic patterns, the rise of hospitals as places of dying, and the growth of modern funeral homes. Decreasing mortality trends, increasing longevity, and the rise of the hospital system allowed the funeral industry to take root, and flourish, in American society. The number of funeral homes around the country grew rapidly and funeral directors achieved an air of authority in mortal matters. Embalming became a standard in the preparation of the dead for disposal. Jessica Mitford was on the right track when she identified a “new mythology” emanating from industry rhetoric to legitimate business and ritual changes in the details of modern American funerals.

Without question, Jessica Mitford's book The American Way of Death was a turning point in the history of American funerals, leading to heightened public awareness about the costs of disposal, the need for consumer protection, and the availability of alternatives to the traditional funeral. Funeral directors strove to continue to provide the same basic ritual services they had before the publication of the book: removal of the body from home or hospital, embalming and preparing it in the funeral home, displaying the deceased in the casket before and/or during services in the chapel, and transportation to the grave. While funeral directors were initially opposed to cremation as a viable alternative to the traditional funeral because they perceived it as a threat to the financial life of their funeral homes, by the late 1970s and early 1980s they gradually incorporated cremation into their ritual practices and found ways to make this method of disposal both profitable and a source of healing.

The funeral industry was generating billions of dollars for funeral directors, casket and vault manufacturers, cemetery owners, florists, embalming-chemical companies, and other burial-related businesses in the early 1960s. Receipts for funeral services rendered during the first half of the 20th century give some indication of the reach and range of transactions taking place in the name of the dead. On the other hand, receipts also misrepresent some of the details of these transactions—especially in the early decades of the century—making them highly questionable as accurate records of labor, pricing, and profit. By the middle of the century, funeral directors had become acutely aware of the need to account for their time. The escalating public attacks and calls for reform ensured that undertakers learn more sophisticated methods of detailing every step taken in the burial of the dead. One of the earliest and most important moments of public debate about the treatment of the dead in the United States occurred after World War I.

In the classroom we can light incense, listen to dirges, watch videos of funerals, and pass around a cremation urn, but these encounters with the intersection of death and religion are taken out of their social context. By moving students beyond the classroom, we force them to step beyond the comfort of academic distance and encounter religion and death on their own terms. This chapter describes the pedagogical benefits of site visits and how they can enhance the study of death from a “lived religion” perspective. It also explores ethical issues arising from site visits and suggests practical ways to maximize the success of the site visit, from planning the trip to student preparation through the follow-up analysis. Lastly, it offers specific suggestions for visits to the most common sites used in death courses, namely cemeteries and funeral homes.

This chapter describe the experiences of Jerrigrace Lyons, a death midwife in Northern California. The author contacts her for help to get rid off the thoughts of her mother's undignified departure caused by the employees from the funeral home. Jerrigrace, like a midwife in a home-birth, coaches families in preparing the body for a wake and funeral at home to be followed by a procession from the home to the cemetery. With Jerrigrace's help, families circumvent the abrupt removal of the body by caring for their own dead. She educates families, supporting and guiding them on how to perform home funerals, take care of paperwork, such as filing out death certificates, and transport the dead to the crematorium in an effort to return intimacy and family involvement to this final stage of life. The advantages of a home funeral and green burial are also described in this chapter.

The defection of the MCA mission in Los Angeles to Pentecostalism in 1906 played an important role in the Azusa Street Revival. MCA evangelist A. G. Garr urged MCA adherents in Los Angeles to attend nearby revival meetings led by William Seymour. A. G. and Lillian Anderson Garr embraced the Pentecostal experience and spread the message to India where Garr played a key role spreading Pentecostalism and in the reinterpretation of the meaning of the Pentecostal his experience. Other central emphasize of the MCA entered early Pentecostalism including the notion of restitution and the rejection of divorce and remarriage. In Wisconsin F. M. Messenger invented the Scripture Text Calendar, a decorative art calendar, to fund the MCA and spread the gospel.

This chapter describes the life of Barbara Kernan, a death midwife, and her funeral director partner, Eric Putt. They help people to have a funeral in their home without any intervention from a conventional funeral home. The author visits Barbara and Eric, who are based at the first holistic funeral home to be found in Southern California. Narrating the experience of the author with Barbara, this chapter suggests that the old traditions are modified and abbreviated to fit into modern day. Once people held vigil with the dead in the home, now they must go to a morgue or funeral home. The time-honored tradition of accompanying the body to witness the committal to the elements of the earth has also changed.

Undertaking, as a profession, grew out of the furniture business, as men who made and sold coffins and burial supplies began to lay out bodies and, later, to embalm them. Undertakers had to convince the public of the need for their services, often by handling the worst cases (accidents, suicides). Rural residents, lacking resources but relying on their neighbors, were the last to accept this profession and the need for embalming. By the end of World War II there were fewer people to do the labor-intensive jobs needed for burial, and undertakers gradually convinced people of the need for their services. This chapter examines such efforts, as well as the role played by women in the profession, cremation, burial insurance and the creation of funeral homes and chapels that brought about the transition from home burials to those handled by funeral industry professionals.