***Rare vintage embalming book***
Reminiscences of Early Embalming by J. H. Clarke
The Sunnyside, New York, 1917
(read it at the link below!)

Joseph Henry Clarke, born in 1840 in Indiana, began his studies in anatomy and chemistry. He attended a medical college until he was called to serve in the Civil War. After the war, he became a bookkeeper and salesman for a coffin company.

As he interviewed undertakers about preservation, he was driven to experiment with embalming. He and a colleague began training embalmers in 1882, and Clarke eventually founded the Cincinnati College of Embalming in 1899. It was arguably the first mortuary school established in the United States. The school is still in operation today, giving Clarke the distinction of being the "founder of American embalming schools."

Clarke's reminiscences were published at the time of his death in 1917, but few copies of the book remain today. The archives staff at the Cal State East Bay University Library graciously agreed to scan the entire book at my request and make the PDF available online.

You may download and read it at http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/224456 (using this link allows them to track usage, and I want to repay their kindness by sending lots of traffic their way!)

#HisAndHearsePress #MortuarySchool #MortuaryScience #Embalming #CivilWar #Undertakers #CSUEB #CCMS #History #HistoryLesson #CSUEastBayLibrary #CincinnatiCollegeOfMortuaryScience #LibrariansRock #ILoveLibrarians #LibrariansRunTheWorld