/internal/media/dispatcher/52561/fullFallout Shelter Handbook19629 1/4 × 6 5/8 × 5/16 in. (23.5 × 16.8 × 0.8 cm)Paper, Newsprint, MetalThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection2000.039.00010Fallout Shelter Handbook written by Chuck West. The handbook was published by Fawcett Publications, Inc., and is copyrighted 1962. The book is 144 pages. The book originally cost 75 cents.
The full-color paper cover has an illustration of a family of three in a fully furnished underground bunker. The chapter features on the cover include "Diets and Food Kits", "Evacuation Techniques", "Surviving an Atomic Attack", "Sources of Water Supply", "Underground Shelters You Can Build or Buy", "Basement and Garage Shelters", "Above-Ground Shelters", "Medical Hints and First Aid”, and "Fallout Detection Devices". The newsprint pages that make up the book are stapled together in two places along the side of the pages inside the cover. There are many illustrations and photographs printed in black and white throughout the handbook.
Handbooks of this nature were sold during the Cold War to instruct families on how to prepare for the nuclear threat.
The book is in good condition. Some paper loss along spine and lower right corner; color loss on cover minimal. Pages of book are yellowed, especially along the edges. (JM 08/07/2018)Books6456416.827533655123.495000000018695Book0.7937515875Fallout Shelter Handbook written by Chuck West. The handbook was published by Fawcett Publications, Inc., in 1962 and is 144 pages. The book originally cost 75 cents.
The illustration on the full-color paper cover shows a family of three in a fully furnished underground bunker. The list of chapters on the cover includes:
"Diets and Food Kits,
Evacuation Techniques,
Surviving an Atomic Attack,
Sources of Water Supply,
Underground Shelters You Can Build or Buy,
Basement and Garage Shelters,
Above-Ground Shelters,
Medical Hints and First Aid, and
Fallout Detection Devices"
This type of information was distributed during the Cold War to help families prepare for the event of a nuclear threat or attack.
This image is not available online larger than a thumbnail to protect the copyright of its creator(s). For a more detailed examination of this item, please schedule an appointment in the Museum’s Reading Room.Nuclear threatCommunismCold WarFallout shelterGreenwichInside this fascinating Fallout Shelter Handbook is an advertisement (with mail-in coupon) for an additional booklet that offered detailed plans on how people could build their own fallout shelter out of waterproof plywood with either a concrete block (for basement shelter) or sand or gravel (for an above-ground shelter). Pressure-treated plywood, so claimed the ad, offered short-term protection at the lowest cost. The 34-page booklet, advertised for twenty-five cents, provided working drawings and a materials list. It was offered for sale by - not surprisingly - the Douglas Fir Plywood Association in Tacoma, Washington. - Stephen Fagin, Curator