A man dies and his wife has him cremated, brings the ashes home, and carefully puts them into an hourglass. She puts the hourglass in a prominent place on the living room mantel, sighs contentedly, and says, "At last, you useless bum, you're going to work."
This is such a fascinating read! Thank you for sharing.
I was writing about the use of human skin to make a pair of shoes in Wyoming (that the doctor later wore to his Gubernatorial swearing in when he was elected to the post in Wyoming in the late 1800s) in a historical note for my historical fiction story (called The Sheepherder) on my Substack. It's such a weird bit of Wyoming history, but I had no idea that human skin was used at any point to bind books.
There’s also talk that the doc made a medical bag or case, as reported in this article, but no one has that item in hand. The shoes on are on display in a museum on Rawlins.
But books! I think maybe I’d heard that Harvard supposedly had a book bound in skin but no idea it was such a prevalent practice! So bizarre.
“After his demise a Rawlins physician, Dr. John E. Osborne—who later became governor of the state—sawed off the top of Big Nose George’s skull as a present for a girl medical student and then skinned him, tanned the hide and made a medicine case and a pair of shoes from the leather. The shoes are still on display at the Rawlins National Bank.”💀🤯
Isn’t it crazy?!?! It’s such a wild, Wyoming story.
They used the skull cap to ID the skeletal remains in the 50s. Lillian Heath, the now elderly former medical assistant (and Wyoming’s first female doctor) produced it when they found the remains in an excavation.
The medicine case has been lost to history, but the shoes! The real kicker for me is that he wore them when he was sworn in as Wyoming governor 😱
I'm reminded of an old joke:
A man dies and his wife has him cremated, brings the ashes home, and carefully puts them into an hourglass. She puts the hourglass in a prominent place on the living room mantel, sighs contentedly, and says, "At last, you useless bum, you're going to work."
LOL
This is such a fascinating read! Thank you for sharing.
I was writing about the use of human skin to make a pair of shoes in Wyoming (that the doctor later wore to his Gubernatorial swearing in when he was elected to the post in Wyoming in the late 1800s) in a historical note for my historical fiction story (called The Sheepherder) on my Substack. It's such a weird bit of Wyoming history, but I had no idea that human skin was used at any point to bind books.
Shoes! Amazing!
In case you want to read more: https://time.com/archive/6614788/wyoming-the-return-of-big-nose-george/
There’s also talk that the doc made a medical bag or case, as reported in this article, but no one has that item in hand. The shoes on are on display in a museum on Rawlins.
But books! I think maybe I’d heard that Harvard supposedly had a book bound in skin but no idea it was such a prevalent practice! So bizarre.
“After his demise a Rawlins physician, Dr. John E. Osborne—who later became governor of the state—sawed off the top of Big Nose George’s skull as a present for a girl medical student and then skinned him, tanned the hide and made a medicine case and a pair of shoes from the leather. The shoes are still on display at the Rawlins National Bank.”💀🤯
Isn’t it crazy?!?! It’s such a wild, Wyoming story.
They used the skull cap to ID the skeletal remains in the 50s. Lillian Heath, the now elderly former medical assistant (and Wyoming’s first female doctor) produced it when they found the remains in an excavation.
The medicine case has been lost to history, but the shoes! The real kicker for me is that he wore them when he was sworn in as Wyoming governor 😱
Ahh, just what I needed to read this morning. Thanks for a fun essay on subjects I love.
Thanks, Ricky!