According to the Adams County Historical Society, the Civil War greatly impacted American funeral practices. The ACHS is hosting Mortuary practices:  How the death profession was changed by the Civil War October 30th at 7 p.m.

Maria Lynn, Archives Assistant says Duane Hills and Neva FinGado will be discussing the history of embalming practices in the United States and how the Civil War played a vital role in moving the death care profession and the preparation of the deceased into a new direction.

“They talk about not only the Civil War, but the one of the gentlemen that wrote books. He actually worked for many years for Joseph Gobblers Sons, which was in Washington, DC, Funeral Home. It's still there today, and they still have very high-profile funerals. And I do believe that President Lincoln, after he was killed, he did he was taken eventually to the Sons Funeral Home, “said Lynn.

During the Civil War, there were no dog tags to identify soldiers or federal hospitals. Andrew Dalton, Executive Director of the Adams County Historical Society and Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum adds there was a decline to preserve the bodies for long distance transportation and people were returning to practice buying the deceased near their home quickly.

“After the Battle of Gettysburg, the town was so overwhelmed by the dead that I'm sure it was not available for every transportation. You know? And you know, if you think about it, there are like seven, 6 or 7000 bodies left behind at Gettysburg, meant almost all of them buried in temporary graves. But it was just an overwhelming undertaking for the town. And to deal with this, you know, there were some agencies that came in to help the Sanitary Commission, you know, the Sisters of Charity, a group of nuns from Emmitsburg. But for the most part, the task of dealing with this was left to the townspeople. So that's just a really important dimension here. But yeah, no dog tags, no ability to identify graves except for what was left in people's pockets. You know, if he died at a hospital, it was more likely that you would have given your name and information to someone who could then, you know, associate that with the body. But in many, many cases, you know, they're digging through people's bags and belongings and having sex and trying to find, you know, some sort of identifying mark, “said Dalton.

According to the Adams County Historical Society, the Civil War greatly impacted American funeral practices. The ACHS is hosting <a href="https://www.achs-pa.org/event/mortuary-practices-how-the-civil-war-changed-the-death-profession/">Mortuary practices:  How the death profession was changed by the Civil War October 30th at 7 p.m.</a>
Maria Lynn, Archives Assistant says Duane Hills and Neva FinGado will be discussing the history of embalming practices in the United States and how the Civil War played a vital role in moving the death care profession and the preparation of the deceased into a new direction.
“They talk about not only the Civil War, but the one of the gentlemen that wrote books. He actually worked for many years for Joseph Gobblers Sons, which was in Washington, DC, Funeral Home. It's still there today, and they still have very high-profile funerals. And I do believe that President Lincoln, after he was killed, he did he was taken eventually to the Sons Funeral Home, “said Lynn.
During the Civil War, there were no dog tags to identify soldiers or federal hospitals. Andrew Dalton, Executive Director of the Adams County Historical Society and Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum adds there was a decline to preserve the bodies for long distance transportation and people were returning to practice buying the deceased near their home quickly.
“After the Battle of Gettysburg, the town was so overwhelmed by the dead that I'm sure it was not available for every transportation. You know? And you know, if you think about it, there are like seven, 6 or 7000 bodies left behind at Gettysburg, meant almost all of them buried in temporary graves. But it was just an overwhelming undertaking for the town. And to deal with this, you know, there were some agencies that came in to help the Sanitary Commission, you know, the Sisters of Charity, a group of nuns from Emmitsburg. But for the most part, the task of dealing with this was left to the townspeople. So that's just a really important dimension here. But yeah, no dog tags, no ability to identify graves except for what was left in people's pockets. You know, if he died at a hospital, it was more likely that you would have given your name and information to someone who could then, you know, associate that with the body. But in many, many cases, you know, they're digging through people's bags and belongings and having sex and trying to find, you know, some sort of identifying mark, “said Dalton.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at https://witf.org/programs/the-spark.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from <a href="https://www.witf.org">WITF</a>, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

The Spark

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

How the Civil War impacted the death profession

Jack Crowley, President of the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster. Just a few weeks ago, Crowley marked World Homeless Day by spending 24 hours outside on a bench in support of those who are currently unhoused.

“The idea is not to imitate or pretend that we're experiencing what our friends who are unhoused actually are going through, “said Crowley.

The demonstration created an opportunity for different organizations to come together and brainstorm how they could better serve the homeless population. Crowley livestreamed his entire experience.

“We had conversations the whole 24 hours. I got like a four-hour window in the middle of the night where it was quiet. I didn't really sleep because it was cold out and I was on an uncomfortable bench. But we had tons of conversations with leaders from across the community, “said Crowley.

Crowley gained some new perspective when he camped out all night. He says the experience was way more than just sleeping in the cold. During his demonstration, a former visitor at the mission visited him. Through conversation, Crowley learned a new meaning to empathy.

“One of the guests who visited me on the bench is a gentleman named David who is homeless. He's staying with us right now at Water Street. And he's doing well. But he actually went through a cycle where he had been with us for three months and then he left and he was back on the street. And one of the things he combated, we were joking about my experience. So is this the morning after I'd been on the bench for 18 hours and I was sore, and I was tired, and he was he was teasing me about that. And I said, David, I know this doesn't compare to what you experienced during those two months. And he's like, Yeah, you're right. And he said, the biggest thing for him was that within 24 hours of leaving Water Street and being back on the street, sleeping on the sidewalks, he said, I knew that I was either invisible or inhuman to every person I encountered that people didn't even want to see me talk about walking down the sidewalk and people not like. Kind of ignoring him, not moving out of his way, even though he had a whole bunch of stuff he was carrying, just kind of pretending he wasn't even there. And then others who looked at him but looked at him with disgust and looked at him with condescension. And he's like, within 24 hours of leaving Water Street, I knew I was either invisible or inhuman. And the only thing that kind of carried him through those two months was he knew that he could come back to Water Street and that people would love him and that he had a church that he went to every Sunday, “said Crowley.

Jack Crowley, President of the <a href="https://wsm.org/">Water Street Rescue Mission</a> in Lancaster. Just a few weeks ago, Crowley marked World Homeless Day by spending 24 hours outside on a bench in support of those who are currently unhoused.
<blockquote>
“The idea is not to imitate or pretend that we're experiencing what our friends who are unhoused actually are going through, “said Crowley.
</blockquote>
The demonstration created an opportunity for different organizations to come together and brainstorm how they could better serve the homeless population. Crowley livestreamed his entire experience.
“We had conversations the whole 24 hours. I got like a four-hour window in the middle of the night where it was quiet. I didn't really sleep because it was cold out and I was on an uncomfortable bench. But we had tons of conversations with leaders from across the community, “said Crowley.
Crowley gained some new perspective when he camped out all night. He says the experience was way more than just sleeping in the cold. During his demonstration, a former visitor at the mission visited him. Through conversation, Crowley learned a new meaning to empathy.
“One of the guests who visited me on the bench is a gentleman named David who is homeless. He's staying with us right now at Water Street. And he's doing well. But he actually went through a cycle where he had been with us for three months and then he left and he was back on the street. And one of the things he combated, we were joking about my experience. So is this the morning after I'd been on the bench for 18 hours and I was sore, and I was tired, and he was he was teasing me about that. And I said, David, I know this doesn't compare to what you experienced during those two months. And he's like, Yeah, you're right. And he said, the biggest thing for him was that within 24 hours of leaving Water Street and being back on the street, sleeping on the sidewalks, he said, I knew that I was either invisible or inhuman to every person I encountered that people didn't even want to see me talk about walking down the sidewalk and people not like. Kind of ignoring him, not moving out of his way, even though he had a whole bunch of stuff he was carrying, just kind of pretending he wasn't even there. And then others who looked at him but looked at him with disgust and looked at him with condescension. And he's like, within 24 hours of leaving Water Street, I knew I was either invisible or inhuman. And the only thing that kind of carried him through those two months was he knew that he could come back to Water Street and that people would love him and that he had a church that he went to every Sunday, “said Crowley.

Lancaster community leader spends 24 hours on a bench to raise awareness for homelessness

Shippensburg University has just finished it’s 12th growing season at the Campus Farm. Dr. Sean Cornell has been a faculty advisor since tit’s inception.

“it's been a really exciting opportunity for the university with a student led project, the students from biology and geography and Earth Science, as well as social work departments. We all kind of got together and developed the campus farm concept actually in response to both the students’ interests, but also the needs in our community. At that time, you know, the Shippensburg Produce and Outreach Organization had posted a sign indicating they wanted individuals to grow a role for SPO so that you would have this excess harvest that could go to community members, “said Cornell.

Seember Agbajir is a student at Shippensburg University and says being involved in the farm was a great experience for her.

“That was my first time ever being on the farm, so it was actually a great experience for me. Prior to that time, I had to get close to Dr. Ross, so I felt like it would be a good thing to maybe dive deeper into it. And then I was like, okay, let me work on the farm. And then, yeah, I started walking on the farm with him and it was a very beautiful experience because that was my first time ever getting my hands dirty, “said Agbajir.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the campus farm.

Shippensburg University has just finished it’s 12th growing season at the Campus Farm. Dr. Sean Cornell has been a faculty advisor since tit’s inception.
“it's been a really exciting opportunity for the university with a student led project, the students from biology and geography and Earth Science, as well as social work departments. We all kind of got together and developed the campus farm concept actually in response to both the students’ interests, but also the needs in our community. At that time, you know, the Shippensburg Produce and Outreach Organization had posted a sign indicating they wanted individuals to grow a role for SPO so that you would have this excess harvest that could go to community members, “said Cornell.
Seember Agbajir is a student at Shippensburg University and says being involved in the farm was a great experience for her.
“That was my first time ever being on the farm, so it was actually a great experience for me. Prior to that time, I had to get close to Dr. Ross, so I felt like it would be a good thing to maybe dive deeper into it. And then I was like, okay, let me work on the farm. And then, yeah, I started walking on the farm with him and it was a very beautiful experience because that was my first time ever getting my hands dirty, “said Agbajir.
<a href="https://www.ship.edu/about/sustainability/campus_farm/">CLICK HERE</a> to learn more about the campus farm.

All about Shippensburg University Campus Farm and produce outreach program

Voting registration in Pennsylvania ended on October 21 and mail and absentee ballots are due by November 5. WITF Democracy Reporter Jordan Wilkie voted absentee and recorded himself voting.

“I took the sort of unusual step of voting by mail in person. So I went to my elections, my county elections office, and I requested my mail in ballot. They approved the request. They handed me the ballot. I filled it out. I put it in the secret envelope. I put it in the return envelope. But instead of putting it in the mail back to them, I just turned around and went to the office window and said, well, here you go. They recorded accepting it. And, you know, not a lot of people know that this is part of the process in Pennsylvania.

Jordan documented his experience because it’s a method that many Pennsylvania voters are not experienced with yet.

“Well, when people vote, they get in a habit of voting a certain way. People who vote in person on Election Day tend to vote in person. Election Day, you know, for years and years and years, people who vote by mail decide that that's the best practice for them. And so I just thought it was an interesting way to show, you know, there's a different method that most people aren't familiar with.”

Voting registration in Pennsylvania ended on October 21 and mail and absentee ballots are due by November 5. <a href="https://www.witf.org/author/jwilkie/">WITF Democracy Reporter Jordan Wilkie</a> voted absentee and recorded himself voting.
“I took the sort of unusual step of voting by mail in person. So I went to my elections, my county elections office, and I requested my mail in ballot. They approved the request. They handed me the ballot. I filled it out. I put it in the secret envelope. I put it in the return envelope. But instead of putting it in the mail back to them, I just turned around and went to the office window and said, well, here you go. They recorded accepting it. And, you know, not a lot of people know that this is part of the process in Pennsylvania.
Jordan documented his experience because it’s a method that many Pennsylvania voters are not experienced with yet.
“Well, when people vote, they get in a habit of voting a certain way. People who vote in person on Election Day tend to vote in person. Election Day, you know, for years and years and years, people who vote by mail decide that that's the best practice for them. And so I just thought it was an interesting way to show, you know, there's a different method that most people aren't familiar with.”

How the Civil War impacted the death profession

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