ATOMIC AGE: Angel Food

Check out this article from Time Magazine, November 18, 1946

ATOMIC AGE: Angel Food

Atomic Preview

The Life Atomic: Growing Up in the Shadow of the A-Bomb opens April 1 with a reception from 5:30-7:30pm. Check out a sneak preview of the exhibit!


A life-size fallout shelter for visitors to explore. Thank you to Scott Young for all of his work on this project!


Objects related to civil defense, atomic toys, and even nuclear home decor!

The Life Atomic: Opening April 1

Duck and Cover Drill
In the schools, “duck and cover” drills trained students to react to an atomic attack by crawling under their desks and covering their heads with their arms.
Credit: Courtesy of The Detroit News.

The Life Atomic: Growing Up in the Shadow of the A-Bomb will run from April 1 – May 15, 2010. Join your favorite 1950s celebrities for refreshments and music at the opening reception on Thursday, April 1 from 5:30-7:30pm.

Today American citizens find themselves threatened by foreign terrorists. But fifty years ago, during the height of the Cold War, Americans lived under another kind of threat – global thermo-nuclear war. Anxious citizens built fallout shelters in their homes. “Duck and cover” drills trained school children to react to an atomic attack by crawling under their desks and covering their heads with their arms. But the new technology of “radiation bombs” inspired more than fear. The bomb also influenced virtually every aspect of American popular culture from movies and literature to toys and home fashion.

The Life Atomic: Growing Up in the Shadow of the A-Bomb explores the history of the Atomic Age in postwar America. The exhibit features text and image panels, authentic artifacts, displays about Coloma-Watervliet in the 1950s, Civil Defense videos, and a life-size family fallout shelter replica.

Be an Atomic Volunteer

The Life Atomic Exhibit and Programs: April 1 – May 15, 2010

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 1, 5:30-7:30pm – Help out for an hour at our Opening Reception for The Life Atomic and still enjoy the music, refreshments, and 1950s celebrity appearances. ‘50s-style dress is encouraged and appreciated!

1950s Spring Break: Wednesday, April 7, 1-3pm – Work with local kids and families on one of a variety of fun, 50s-inspired activities throughout the museum. ‘50s-style dress is encouraged and appreciated!

Community Sock Hop: Friday, April 16, 6-9pm – Help out for an hour or more at this free family event to be held in the Alwood Gymnasium at Coloma Middle School. Jobs include decorations, set-up and clean-up, refreshments, ticket sales, costume and hula contest judges, and manning the NBHS info table. ‘50s-style dress is encouraged and appreciated!

Gallery Greeters: Every Saturday, April 1 – May 15 – Greet visitors and track attendance for a portion of our Saturday Exhibit Hours, 10am-5pm.

Gallery Greeters: Every Friday, April 1 – May 15 – Greet visitors and track attendance for a portion of our Friday Exhibit Hours, 10am-5pm.

Exhibit Docent: Scheduling TBD, April 1 – May 15 – Help guide school and community groups through The Life Atomic exhibit. Training and study guide provided.

Please call the museum at 269-468-3330 or email nbhs2@sbcglobal.net to sign up to volunteer.

North Berrien Letter to Jackie

When the President was assassinated in 1963, Mrs. Mildred Hesch was one of thousands of Americans to send a note of sympathy to the Kennedys. She is a lifelong resident of Chicago and Lake Michigan Beach and today at the age of 93 still makes her home in Hagar Township.

Mrs. Hesch was recently notified that her letter will be featured in a new book that draws upon such sympathy correspondence to illustrate what Kennedy meant to the nation. In Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation, author Ellen Fitzpatrick includes 250 of the most “intimate, heartfelt, eye-opening responses” to the President’s death, arguably one of the most traumatic events of the twentieth century.

As the mother of a one, three, and five year old, Mildred Hesch directed her letter to the Kennedy children John and Caroline, ages two and five. She explained that the President’s fatherhood was one of the qualities that she had trusted most about his leadership. Mrs. Hesch wrote in her conclusion:

“Your mother may well wonder how to explain us, the citizens of the sixties, to you, when you grow to a knowledgeable age. This is how I will try to tell such a bitter page in history to our children. We needed your dad to lift us from the tired, trite, sophist era of politics and politicians. We needed him to remind us all that it could be fashionable to be good and aspiring, strong and witty, determined and unbending, hopeful and charitable – in varying degrees as the need demanded. We needed to be reminded. He did this. I hope that time will prove that enough of us have continued to remember his high hopes for humanity, and individually we have considered the effect our actions have on those about us. We shall certainly be grateful, with history, for having known such a president.
Most Sincerely,
Signed Mildred F. Hesch
(Mrs) Robert L. Hesch”

Letters to Jackie is currently available in the North Berrien Historical Museum Gift Shop.

Atomic Excitement at the Museum

Photo by Don English, courtesy of the Las Vegas News Bureau.

With only a month to go, preparation for our latest traveling exhibition The Life Atomic: Growing Up in the Shadow of the A-Bomb are taking place at the North Berrien Historical Museum. Two cases have been emptied of artifacts, a family-size bomb shelter is being built for the gallery, and museum members have been busy looking through their closets for forgotten 1950s clothing to wear opening night.

The opening reception will take place on Thursday, April 1 from 5:30-7:30pm. Join us for refreshments, Cold War music, and 1950s celebrity appearances. Remarks will take place at 6pm.

Mark you calendar! Great programs will compliment the exhibit.

Wednesday, April 7, 1-3pm, Free
1950s Spring Break - Imagine life as a 1950s kid through activities and demonstrations. All ages welcome.

Friday, April 16, 6-9pm, Free
Community Sock Hop - Alwood Gymnasium, Coloma Middle School. Sponsored by the Coloma- Watervliet Area Chamber of Commerce

Tuesday, April 20, 7pm, Free
Nuclear Power in Southwest Michigan - presentation by Bill Schalk. Mr. Schalk is director of communications at the Cook Nuclear Power Plant. He will discuss the history of nuclear power in our region.

Tuesday, May 4, 7pm, Free
Atomic Anxiety: Post-World War Two American Culture - presentation by Dr. Erika Doss. Dr. Doss is chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She will discuss American anxiety over nuclear weapons and the impact it had on 1950s culture.

Thursday, May 13, 5:30 - 7pm, Free
The Martian Chronicles Book Discussion - Coloma Public Library. All are welcome to join us for a discussion of the famous science fiction book The Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury.