Those who like the macabre side of October will want to stop by Upham Mansion this month. The North Wood County Historical Society is hosting a mini-exhibit of fascinating funeral artifacts on loan from Allan & Chris Buchanan.
UW-Oshkosh graduate Jake Covey researched and interpreted the artifacts for the display, which includes information on funeral and mourning practices, mourning jewelry, and a real casket.
“I think the most interesting part of the entire exhibit is the fact that the Civil War played an immeasurable role in shaping our modern funeral practices,” said Covey. “With casualties in the hundreds of thousands (600,000-710,000 in total), armies tried to allow families to pay homage to their loved ones as best they could. But with past technology, this was nearly impossible.
“In response, efforts were made to find better ways to honor the dead and preserve those that were lost. Mass production of coffins began, the rise of embalming and refrigeration practices became streamlined and legitimized as occupational practices, as well as the opening of funeral homes and morgues as businesses all stemmed from that immense casualty-count from the war.”
Covey notes that coffins and caskets are actually different – coffins are six-sided boxes built to fit the deceased, while caskets are the rectangular boxes in common today. “One reasoning for the change and popularity of caskets is because of the symbol it portrays. It looks very similar to a jewelry box, and therefore, caskets were seen as holding something of immense value rather than holding something that has died.”
Books make up a section of the mini-exhibit that represent the lighter attitudes about death that emerged after the Victorian Era, allowing people to discuss it more openly. “This brought forth things like the “Addams Family”, dark humor, and the gothic subculture we see today – all of which view death in drastically different, but very unique, ways,” he said.
Mourning and the handling of death were extremely strict in the past, with discussion limited by societal norms. “At one point, Queen Victoria wore mourning clothes from her husband’s death until her own death 40 years later!” said Covey.
A charming tradition of that time was “mourning jewelry,” which preserved the deceased’s hair in a locket or pendant. Entire strands of hair could be used as the chain part of the necklace. Once photographs became more readily available, the practice died off. An example of hair being used in jewelry can be observed at the exhibit.
Covey enjoys the story-telling aspect of the past, having double majored in history and English, and plans to work with museums and other organizations in Madison.
“The draw for both majors was in the storytelling, both factual and fictional, and their ability to connect the public to events, processes, or humanistic ideas we’ve never encountered before,” he said. “That epiphany came late in my undergrad career, but I managed to do an internship through the UW Oshkosh Archives, where I interpreted and designed an exhibit on the college’s baseball program.”
Covey currently works for Renaissance Learning as a Content Developer in their Accelerated Reader program. He also writes for an ESPN affiliate on the Milwaukee Brewers (Disciples of Uecker) and in 2016 was an assistant pitching coach for the Marshfield Senior Legion team, also coaching baseball each spring and summer.
“I’ve also been in the process of publishing an essay on Holocaust memorialization in Eastern Europe and the problems associated with retaining memory and maintaining the memory of the places where such atrocities happened,” he added. “In the future, I hope to continue to tell stories through writing and researching through any medium – exhibits, stories, documentaries.”
While graduate school is still an option, Covey is hoping for more projects to tackle. “I’m focused on digging into projects at the moment to build my abilities and spread interesting stories to the public however I can!” he said.
