Abstract

"'Big Days for the Progressive Funeral Director': The 1922 Tri-State Funeral Directors Convention and the Co-Creation of a Business Identity"

Jennifer Ford, University of Mississippi (jwford@olemiss.edu)

In early spring of 1922, the charismatic president of the Mississippi Funeral Directors Association (MFDA), Harrie L. Wells, advised members that the upcoming Tri-State Funeral Directors Convention, “offers...an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas for our advancement. Let us touch elbows with others in the same profession…these are big days for the progressive funeral director.” In May of that year, approximately eight hundred registrants from Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee convened in the capital city of Memphis, Tennessee, to foster regional cooperation and highlight new advancements in the field. In addition to professional meetings, presentations, and social events, there were costly exhibits showcasing the very latest in death-related technologies, as well as fashion shows featuring the most up-to-date burial shrouds and funeral clothing.

Although the convention was proclaimed a “triumphant success,” strengthening the legitimacy of the business organization, it also served as a new form of regulation of the area’s developing industry. Indeed, the meeting catered specifically to established members of the emerging state funeral associations, such as the MFDA, thereby preventing many non-affiliated funeral professionals from admittance. Additionally, the segregationist policies of these organizations precluded African Americans, as well as other funeral directors of color, from formally attending the gathering. This paper will seek to investigate the methods employed by organizers of the 1922 Tri-State meeting to formulate the commercial and cultural identity of a “Progressive Southern Funeral Director” through the event itself. The presentation will also examine how this professional “character” was built, in large part, upon its very opposition to groups barred from involvement, as well as the conference's enduring legacy upon regional and national death culture.