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When the Bomb Goes Off — Don’t Be There!
Call number: UA926.5 E92 N874 1960z

Virginia’s military bases and its proximity to Washington made it a primary target. Northern Virginia had a special evacuation plan, but the population density and rural routes would have made a mass evacuation impossible. Brochures like this may have given people a sense of control and security.

Plans for evacuating the government included a secret “relocation facility” with 800 beds to house congressional members. The bunker’s location was kept secret until 1992, when a reporter for the Washington Post Magazine revealed that it had been built under the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

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Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Check List
Call number: 1992.105

A number of businesses marketed various Cold War merchandise. The Wallace Ceilings & Sound Conditioning Co. in Richmond distributed this flyer listing the supplies needed for the well-equipped shelter. All of this equipment could be used today for disaster preparedness except for the DDT and the "home–use radiation instruments."

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Clay Masonry Family Fallout Shelters (1977)
Call number: TH1097 S927 1960

The family fallout shelter is an enduring symbol of the Cold War, but the practice of building a bomb shelter in the back yard was never widespread. Some estimates place the number of families with shelters at 1 percent of the population.

The instructions shown here are for the construction of a basement shelter that could be built for $300 by a "do–it–yourselfer" with the help of a neighbor in two weekends.

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By, For, and About Women in Civil Defense Newsletter
Call number: UA926.5 F686 May 1958

Emergency preparedness included stock piling food, and this brochure encouraged women to take the lead. Just as grandma's pantry was always stocked for company or an emergency, "Today, as a result of the newly–created perils of possible enemy attack, re-creation of GRANDMA'S PANTRY in a sheltered area of the modern home is once again a necessity." A minimum of fourteen days' supply of food and water was recommended.

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