Lincoln Changed the Course of the American Funeral Industry

Guest: Brian Walsh, MFA, Assistant Professor of Communications, Elon University, Documentary Filmmaker  Funerals in America often involve a viewing, where mourners pay respects to a body that’s been preserved to look more or less like the person did when alive. But, around the world, embalming is not necessarily standard practice. And, it wasn’t always typical in America, either. In fact, we have President Abraham Lincoln to thank for what we’ve come to think of a traditional American funeral.