Pardon the self-promotion; I hope Histarch members will find this useful.

Left Coast Press has recently published my book, Nineteenth-Century Coffin
Hardware in America, in both hard- and soft-cover.

It is available directly from Left Coast Press, as well as major online
book retailers.
http://www.lcoastpress.com/book.php?id=535

Using data from archaeological excavations, patent filings, and marketing
catalogs the book provides a broad view of the introduction, spread, and
use of mass-produced coffin hardware in North America. At the book's heart
is a standardized typology of coffin hardware that recognizes stylistic and
functional changes and a fresh look at the meanings and uses of the various
motifs and decorative elements. Within the discussion of mass-produced
coffin hardware in North America is new work connecting the North American
industry with its British antecedents and a fresh analysis of the prime
factors that led to the introduction and spread of mass-produced coffin
hardware. Extensively illustrated with examples of coffin hardware to aid
scholars and professionals in identification.

"An indispensable reference work for this fascinating area of the material
culture of deathways. " - Edward L. Bell, author, Vestiges of Mortality &
Remembrance

" Megan Springate has compiled an important and groundbreaking work that
includes a typology of coffin hardware, a discussion of the social mean
related to these artifacts, as well as a compelling history of mass
produced coffin hardware found in North America. Important to this work is
an overview of the social history of burial practices and associated coffin
material culture. Her research also confronts the complexity of linking
coffin furniture to religion, gender, and ethnicity. *Coffin Hardware in
the Nineteenth-century America* is a significant work that is a necessary
reference for archaeologists." - Paul A. Shackel, Professor, University of
Maryland

--Megan.