1998.3293.1
Coffin
Wicker; woven pattern on side; wicker wrapped, wooden handles on each end; lid; (2) leather straps; wicker painted light gray; wooden base. Length 70" approx.
Environmentally friendly, wicker not only has been a building material for temporary body containers but also for coffins throughout time. Sir Frances Seymour Haden (1818-1910) advocated for his Earth-to-Earth wicker coffin filled with aromatic flowers and herbs with the argument that they would more quickly decompose than traditional coffins and open burial space to be used again.
1998.3209.1
Coffin
Plain wood; flat lid
Length, width, height 30 ½," 14," 9 5/8," widest, dimensions based on base.
English law decreed in 1700 that everyone, not just the wealthy, could be buried in a coffin. Before this edict, those with lesser means went to their graves only in a shroud or a tightly-wrapped piece of fabric (“winding sheet”). A local carpenter or cabinetmaker measured the deceased’s height and shoulder width to make a simple coffin container of wide planks extending from base to top.A liveryman then transported the coffin to the grave. Eventually, one person undertook all the details involved with a funeral (the “undertaker”) and coffin construction became its own enterprise.
1998.3203.1
Coffin
Wooden, (2) metal handgrips on each side; lid screwed down; lid and bottom painted gold. Length, height, width 49," 9," 16 1/4" widest.
A coffin’s handles allow its lifting and carrying by pall bearers, a designation referring to a “pall,” the cloth once spread over coffins. The number of coffin handles, which always come in pairs, equates with the numbers of pallbearers. A Victorian manners book stated:
"From six to eight pall-bearers are chosen from the immediate friends of the deceased, and near to him in age. A very young girl may be conveyed to the hearse by girls of her own age. The duty of the pall-bearers is to carry the coffin from the house to the hearse — also from the hearse to the grave. The carriage in which they ride precedes the hearse. They are provided with black gloves and crape for the arm, when attending an elderly person, but wear white gloves and white crape for a young person. These are furnished by the family through the undertaker. Notes are sent to those who are to act in this capacity, requesting their services."
1998.3207.1
Coffin
White painted wood; flat top; stenciled detail on sides. Length, height, width
42 ½," 10 ½," 14 ½," widest.
Using paint as a coffin surface treatment was a common late-nineteenth century practice. Blue, gray, lavender, purple, red, yellow, green—coffins could be purchased in many colors with black popular as was glossy white for children’s burials as well as adults. Stenciling, the reproduction of designs by applying paint over a flat sheet of pre-cut holes onto the surface to be decorated, added further ornamentation. The stencil technique of spraying paint through lace was one short-lived coffin decoration fad.
1998.3208.1
Coffin
Plain wood; peaked lid. Length, width, height 27 ½," 10 ½," 9 1/4" widest, approx.
Coffin forms vary but before the twentieth century, they typically had a hexagonal (six to eight sides), anthropoid – similar to a human—shape, while a casket, consists of four sides. Wider at the shoulders and tapering to the feet, hence, the descriptor “toe pincher” makes sense when referring to coffins. An alternate to the coffin’s flat lid was a gable-lid also known as a peaked lid that ran coffin length. The peaked lid allows more space for the body and had its heyday before the nineteenth century.
1998.3213.1
Coffin
Plain wood; peaked lid; (4) screws at head end. Length, width 55," 16 ¼," widest.
The peak-lid coffin was thought to better display a coffin covering on the way to the grave and distribute the weight of the earth it would be under than a flat lid.
1998.3230.1
Casket
Black painted metal; glass viewing window with separate cover, (2) handles on each side; decorative lid screws, decorative hardware on lid; removable section of lid at feet; coffin lined with padded beige satin, manufacturer’s brochure inside. Length, width, height 52 ½," 16," 10 ¾," widest.
This casket has removable lid section at the feet that can extend or shorten a burial container by the insertion or withdrawal of additional sections. Those limited in storage space could rely on removable section containers instead of carrying stock a wide assortment of sizes.
1998.3236.1
Coffin
Wooden; covered with brown velvet; lined in white cotton. Length, width, height 30,"11," 7 ½," widest.
Cotton, sawdust, wood shavings, and similar substances were used in the burial container to soak up excess moisture from sewn incisions and absorb any other fluids leaking from the corpse.
1998.3237.1
Coffin
Wooden; gold detail and the words: “Our Darling”; hinged lid; lined with white cotton; flat lid. 39 ½," 13," 10," widest.
Of the metallic plates with sentimental sentiments popular in the Victorian era that romanticized death, “Our Darling” was a popular coffin adornment usually referring to a child.
1998.3241.1
Coffin
Metal; finished in faux wood grain, (2) glass viewing windows; elaborate metal decoration; (4) handles on each side; (1) on each end; lined in white/ivory satin with fringe; flat lid. H x W x L 1' 3" x 2' x 6' 9."
The first U.S. patent for a metal coffin was granted in 1836. Twelve years later, A.D. Fisk filed a patent for an “Air-Tight Coffin of Cast or Raised Metal” mummy-shaped coffin and would go on to dominate the industry producing metal coffins that morphed into a rectangular shape known as “caskets.” Because of the need to ship bodies during the Civil War, air-tight metal caskets became more popular even with their high cost compared to wood and also reflected a more mobile population:
Essentially, the metallic burial case was a successful new product because it responded to and successfully channeled the orientation of American society. The need to preserve the body for resurrection had diminished; Christians in America still believed in a resurrection but less in the literal resurrection of the body. However a more dispersed and mobile population created a need to preserve the body until friends and family could arrive to participate in a respectable funeral.