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1962 Civil Defence Survival Supplies Carton.
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”.
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Ó 2002 DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County |
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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."