This exhibit showcases domestic projects designed by Hugh E. Taylor that feature fallout shelters or bomb shelters in the wake of the Atomic Era. From the end of WWII to the early 1990's, a period of international heightened tension and scientific innovation known as the Cold War, led many Americans living in suburban areas to commission or construct private subterranean shelters as advised by the US Office of Civil Defense under the Eisenhower Administration. Such structures were outlined in detail through survival literature provided by the Office of Civil Defense to prepare Americans for a nuclear war considering the events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Family Fallout Shelter booklet published in June of 1959, at the peak of the cold war, urged Americans to furnish their own security in preparation for a nuclear attack. This civil defense initiative was modeled on a do-it-yourself ideology that presented Americans with a DIY project that "combined home improvement with family safety." Home shelters were available in a variety of designs. They ranged from lean-tos, to basic basement boxes, to large metal subterranean pipes, and to more elaborate designs. The affordable model detailed in the booklet called the Basement Concrete Block shelter, required basic hardware store materials including 535 solid concrete blocks, five bags of readily mix mortar, six wooden posts, 95 ft. of board sheathing, and six pounds of nails. The accompanying visuals provided step-by-step instruction for the construction of these simple structures.
Typically, DIY shelters were small. The modest basement concrete shelter, for example, measured sixty square feet and offered four feet of head clearance. The walls were constructed of rough, unpainted concrete blocks and ventilation was provided by small gaps in the walls or through hand-operated air blowers. Bunk beds were commonly used to save space, and lanterns or flashlights provided the only illumination. Shelters also had no running water, so tight-lidded containers sprinkled with chlorine were used as latrines. This model, though small and cramped, was presented as an option to shelter a family of six people.
Like much of the gender stereotypes presented in mass media during the post-war era, civil defense initiatives also provided gender-specific tasks through survivor literature. Men assumed the role of protectors and providers while women were anointed a homemaker role, perpetuating gender stereotypes in the post-nuclear era
For southern Nevadans, the fear of the Cold War was very close to home with the Nevada Atomic Test site located only 65 miles north of Las Vegas. With the proximity of these tests, many businesses in Las Vegas capitalized on the cold war by catering to tourism, while upper middle-class families commissioned private fallout shelters like the ones presented here.
References:
Lichtman, Sarah A. "Do-It-Yourself Security: Safety, Gender, and the Home Fallout Shelter in Cold War America." Journal of Design History, vol. 19, no. 1, 2006, pp. 39-55. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3838672. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.
Hassebroek, Naomi Kroll. "Kennedy, Rockefeller, and Civil Defense (U.S. National Park Service)." National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1 Sept. 2008, www.nps.gov/articles/coldwar_civildefense_kennedyrockefellerandcd.htm.
"Nevada Test Site." Atomic Heritage Foundation, 2019, www.atomicheritage.org/location/nevada-test-site.
June 1959 The Family Fallout Shelter booklet
Timeline: Fallout Shelter Images of the 1950's
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