I found a 1960s guide to building your own fallout shelter at a thrift store in Tulsa

Snagged this weird old book at a Goodwill off Route 66 last Saturday for like $2. It's called 'How to Build a Fallout Shelter' from 1961 and it's packed with diagrams for digging into your backyard and stacking concrete blocks. The author was dead serious about stocking canned food and a hand-crank radio too. I flipped to the part about ventilation systems and realized I'd have no clue how to actually make that work without suffocating. The cover has this retro atomic age graphic that just screams cold war panic. Has anyone else stumbled across one of these old survival manuals? I'm debating whether to keep it for the kitsch value or try to sell it to a vintage decor person.

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_sanchez11d ago

Yeah I've seen a few of those old shelter guides floating around. The ventilation plans in those are usually crap anyway, they dont account for proper air flow or radon buildup. Keep it for the kitsch value, its not worth much more than what you paid for it since there were tons of them printed. Those concrete block shelters would be a moldy death trap within a year anyway.

james_ross11d ago

It's funny you mention that, @luna_sanchez, because it reminds me of how people hold onto old tech manuals and how-to books from the 70s and 80s like they're secret knowledge. I've got a buddy who still swears by a 1982 guide to home wiring, even though building codes have changed like five times since then. Those old books are more about the vibe of preparedness than actual safety, kind of like how people keep vintage user manuals for appliances they don't even own anymore. The mold and radon thing is spot on too, nobody back then thought about sealing concrete from the ground side (which is where all the trouble starts).