Museum & Research Library Hours: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 11am-5pm.
Civil Defence Kit
Director
Matthew Braun talks with Morning Report host, Casey Stevens about
artifacts from the collections on WHCU 870AM, Thursday mornings at 9:45.
1962 Civil Defence Survival Supplies Carton.
On
May 24, 1952, the Ithaca Journal reported that Operation Ithaca, the
first full-scale civil defense exercise in the city and county, was
executed to prepare for the possibility of a nuclear attack. Sirens
went off at 9:55 in the morning to signal the "Red" alert. By the time
the whistling had stopped, nearly everyone was inside a shelter. Those
who wandered on the streets were instructed by civil defense police
officers to go inside. Equipment from the Ithaca Fire Department,
medical, and rescue teams rushed to wards where 175 Girl Scouts, Boy
Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, and members of the Tompkins County Emergency
Core acted as casualties. The director of the Ithaca-Tompkins County
Civil Defense, Gen. Ralph Hospital, commented, "The public responded
magnificently."
In a speech made to Congress on May 25, 1961, President Kennedy urged Americans to build their own fallout shelters. A convenient part of these shelters were sanitation kits,like the one featured at the right. Donated by the City of Ithaca Engineering Department, this Civil Defense Survival Supplies Carton was made in 1962. The unused contents and instructions are still inside. Included were ten units of toilet tissue, one can opener, one commode liner, sixty sanitation napkins, one pair of gloves, one syphon spout, one tie wire, one commode seat, eighty cups and lids, one instruction sheet, and one commode chemical. The seat was intended to meet the minimal needs of fifty persons. One simply had to place the liner in the drum, add the commode chemical, and then the seat. The instructions inside advised, "A methodical system of dispensing the toilet paper, sanitary pads, hand cleanser and plastic cups should be effected...USE SPARINGLY".
Past Objects:
1890 Shaving Kit
Dennison's Jewelry Cleaning Casket
Ithaca Calendar Clock Patent Model
Indian Clubs
Passenger Pigeon Net
Steamship Frontenac Belaying Pin
Paint Box of W.C. Baker
Amber Candy Dish