The threat of nuclear war was all-pervasive, with the Cold War lasting from 1947 to 1991. Living in Little Falls, Minnesota, less than 10 miles from Camp Ripley, a military training facility, it felt as though we could have easily been a target for a nuclear missile, although the bigger risk in rural areas was seen as the radioactive material that was the result of the bomb. Looking back, if a nuclear bomb had gone off anywhere near us, using our desks or hands for protection was laughable.

I was one of these children, having been in elementary school in the 1970s. It was impressed upon us that this maneuver was about surviving nuclear fallout. #2015.28.Ĭhildren of the Cold War grew up practicing “duck and cover,” a disaster drill during which we either crawled under our desks at school or went to a windowless interior space, sat on the floor and curled up with our hands over our heads. “Handbook for Fallout Shelter Management,” Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense, December 1966, part of collection donated to the Morrison County Historical Society by the U.S. We Are Happy: An Exploration of Joy in Early Photography.The Story Behind The Tat: Tattoo Art in Central Minnesota.The Fabulous Fashion of Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser.Brick by Brick: Building Community Development Through History.

Exploring History & Culture in Central MN.

Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum – Little Falls, MN, U.S.A.

Fallout shelter sign family