author

Albert John Nunnamaker

1885–1928

An early 20th-century teacher of embalming, he helped turn practical trade knowledge into a more formal, science-based textbook. His best-known work blends anatomy lessons with hands-on guidance for students entering mortuary practice.

1 Audiobook

Anatomy and Embalming

Anatomy and Embalming

by Charles Otto Dhonau, Albert John Nunnamaker

About the author

Albert John Nunnamaker (1885–1928) is best known as the co-author of Anatomy and Embalming, first published in 1913. The book presents embalming as both a technical craft and a field grounded in anatomical study, and it was written with fellow instructor Charles O. Dhonau.

Contemporary editions identify Nunnamaker and Dhonau as professors of anatomy and sanitary science at the Cincinnati College of Embalming in Cincinnati, Ohio. That teaching role gives his writing a clear, practical tone: the book was meant to train embalmers, explain the body carefully, and bring a more systematic approach to professional practice.

Library of Congress cataloging records list him as Albert John Nunnamaker, 1885–1928. While biographical details about his life appear to be scarce in widely available sources, his surviving work remains a useful window into the early professionalization of mortuary science in the United States.