The Sobel's shelter has been recreated here from measured drawings and photographs of the original structure. Human waste disposal was an important issue to consider in a shelter. A portable toilet with plastic bags were the preferred method of collecting the waste. The bags would then be placed in a trash can until they could be buried outside. Courtesy of the Visual Materials Archives, Archives Division, State Historical Society.
School desk Used at an elementary school in Madison, Wisconsin, ca.
School children during the 1950s and early 1960s were taught to save themselves during an atomic attack by ducking under a desk like this one and covering their heads. Identification bracelets were sold to school children and their parents so that their bodies could be identified after an atomic attack. Virginia Martinson purchased a set of them for her family. She also prepared an evacuation plan to move her family quickly and safely out of the St. Paul area to a cottage near Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Courtesy of Virginia Martinson.