I missed the beginning query, but, in case it helps someone, here are two
examples of late 20th and 21st century American burials carried out very
simply, without embalming.

My conservative Jewish brother-in-law was buried without embalming, in a
plain shroud and a plain pine coffin, in Milwaukee about 2 decades ago.

My father-in-law (baptized Methodist, turned Unitarian) had hoped to donate
his body to a medical school, but was turned down because of his various
medical conditions. Through  Funeral Consumers Alliance, www.funerals.org we
found a funeral home in Lawrence KS that  would handle a green burial in a
cemetery there. He was buried in a shroud and a bio-compostable cardboard
coffin. Because he had died in Missouri and had to be transported across
the state line, a Missouri funeral home was officially in charge and did
all the liaison work with the Kansas funeral home.

Happy to provide details off-list.

Karen  9/11/2014
Karen Reeds, PhD, FLS
Peter Kalm’s New Jersey, 1748-1751
NJ350 Publication Initiative grant, New Jersey Historical Commission

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