Postcard, Tennessee fallout shelter, 1964 from Book Atomic Postcards : Radioactive Messages from the Cold War. authors John O’Brien and Jeremy Borsos
Postcard message, 1964 In his book The Postcard Century, Tom Phillips notes that what people write on postcards “bumps into history as a ball on a pin-table hits or misses, by hazard.” So there’s something jarring about this postcard, presumably written by juvenile girl in the summer of 1964 (the year of China’s first nuclear detonation). What image did she choose to be the bearer of various minor tidings?text by Tom Vanderbilt
Historical note: the above photo is actually from an atomic test at the Nevada Proving Ground in 1952, but as far as the Los Alamos chamber of commerce was concerned, any old mushroom cloud would do as long as it was irresistibly enticing. U.S.A., Los Alamos, Nevada Proving Ground, Atomic Postcards: Radioactive Messages from the Cold War, John O’Brien, Jeremy Borsos more of
Michael Light’s
stunning collection of atomic images 100 Suns.
