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Keeping Things Cool: Air-Conditioning in the Modern WorldSusanna RobbinsReprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
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What would we do without air-conditioning? It has become such an important part of every summer that most of us do not give it a second thought--that is, until the power goes out in the middle of August. In summer 2002, OAH 's weekly radio program Talking History celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the first industrial air-conditioner. Talking History 's Fred Nielson interviewed Marsha Ackerman, [Click here to listen to the interview.] author of Cool Comfort: America 's Romance With Air-Conditioning (2002), about how air-conditioning truly revolutionized American culture. From increasing productivity in factories to creating the "cool comfort" of American malls and movie theaters on hot days, air-conditioning changed the ways in which people lived their lives and the locations in which they chose to live, work, and play. Because students probably take air-conditioning--and the mall--for granted, discussing the impact it has on their lives is a pedagogical device that might jolt them into new ways of thinking about the world in which they live while also getting them to understand how science and technology influence historical developments. There are three essential directions in which teachers might lead classroom discussions. First, Marsha Ackerman points out the ways in which race, class, and gender influenced air-conditioning 's popularity. Second, Raymond Arsenault and A. Cash Koeniger, in related articles, suggest that air-conditioning has undermined the distinctive southern culture, blurring regional distinctions in general. Raymond Arsenault, in a Journal of Southern History article, argues that air-conditioning also blurred the regional characteristics that set the South and Southwest apart. The hot and humid weather, he argues, gave the South its distinctive flair and influenced its architecture. Air-conditioning, by luring southerners indoors and inviting northerners to live in the South, made many of those regional differences less obvious--hidden, in some sense, by the air-conditioned mall. Third, air-conditioning has become such an integral part of American culture that people from outside the United States and even some Americans comment on it. Teachers and students should explore the ways in which air-conditioning is an "American thing." Background In the mid-nineteenth century, however, Florida physician John Gorrie began using cool air to treat his malaria patients. He used a fan to blow air across a pan of ice suspended from the ceiling. In the years following, engineers experimented with electric fans and other ventilation systems designed to cool the air, but Willis Carrier, a Buffalo, New York, inventor, created a way to control the humidity of a room as well as its temperature. In 1902, he installed the first industrial air-conditioner in a Brooklyn printing house, where the humid atmosphere kept the ink from drying. The tobacco industry similarly used air-conditioning to limit the moisture in the leaves, but the textile industry found that raising the humidity in its factories kept threads from becoming brittle and breaking in the machinery. Scientists also proved that cooler temperatures and less humidity increase productivity. Thus, throughout the twentieth century, corporations increasingly took advantage of the improving climate control technology to move their factories to the South and Southwest, taking advantage of the mild winters and undaunted by the summer heat. Air-conditioned movie theaters, restaurants, and businesses, however, are even more responsible for creating the American culture of "cool comfort." Movie theaters specifically used the promise of an afternoon away from the heat to sell tickets. Air-conditioned stores did more business on hot days when customers came to browse to escape the heat. The heat also drove customers into cool restaurants where they did not have to slave over a hot stove. Eventually, movie theaters, stores, and restaurants became part of the ubiquitous mall, where shoppers can luxuriate in the cool air as they browse through a number of stores without going outside. Chicago 's 1933-1934 "A Century of Progress" and New York 's 1939-1940 "Building the World of Tomorrow" World's Fairs introduced air-conditioners for private homes, a product of the future available right then. After World War II, inexpensive, mass-produced room air-conditioners became not only a staple of middle-class homes, but also a status symbol in an increasingly consumer oriented culture. New domestic air-conditioners encouraged families to stay indoors in the summer months, watching television and playing with other new toys and gadgets. Air-conditioning is almost standard in American cars today, as opposed to the luxury it once represented. Ackerman notes that 98-99 percent of all American cars are equipped with air-conditioning even though it is still considered an extra. Farmers' tractor cabs and industrial construction equipment are even air-conditioned. Americans now only have to brave the heat as long as it takes them to get from their homes to their cars and from their cars to their workplaces, schools, movie theaters, malls, and so on. Long, hot summers are no longer threatening and northerners no longer find the South and Southwest forbidding. Indeed, retired men and women make up a large portion of the Sunbelt population. Race, Class, and Gender The first air-conditioners installed in factories regulated the amount of humidity in the air without cooling the facility, showing a certain disregard for factory workers. As Ackerman points out, no one cared about cooling the poor. Air-conditioning advertising eventually focused on middle-class Americans who went to movies, restaurants, and shopped, although department stores air-conditioned their bargain basements first. Eventually, inexpensive home air-conditioners appealed to middle-class Americans building new suburban homes. Elite Americans shunned air-conditioning. They refused to admit to any discomfort, insisting that they were above that sort of thing. But Ackerman also points out that they had alternative ways to keep themselves cool. Upper-class families lived in large homes with windows and long hallways strategically placed to catch breezes and verandas on which to relax on particularly hot days. Servants slaved over meals, laundry, and other heavy chores. Wealthy families also had retreats in the country and mountains or along lakes and beaches. Studies show that men prefer colder temperatures and always turn the thermostat down after women, who prefer warmer temperatures, have turned it up. Mid-twentieth-century advertisers, then, had to find a way to sell air-conditioners to women who stayed at home. They argued that air-conditioners allowed wives to cook full, hot meals for their families throughout the summer and that air-conditioning in stores, theaters, and restaurants would protect women from the masses--Ackerman stresses that sweaty crowds somehow threatened a woman 's purity. Men, however, needed air-conditioning to energize them, make them more productive at work and ready to spend time with the family at home. Advertisers essentially used gender stereotypes to sell air-conditioning to image conscious middle-class families. Regional Distinctiveness Particularly, Koeniger argues that the long, hot summers influenced the development of the unique southern, agrarian culture that treated work casually and lived in dispersed farms and plantations, cultivating an individualistic society. Their long growing season and the success of slavery meant that they had fewer worries about their economic survival--there was no sense of the urgency that characterized northerners who worked hard to plant and harvest their crops during short summer seasons. Koeniger reminds us that nineteenth-century descriptions of southern society characterized southerners as passionate, romantic, and violent. The hot weather, he theorizes contributed the violence and the ways southerners approached confrontation, but their casual approach to work also gave them free time to play games, go hunting or pursue other hobbies and activities. It is important to note that Koeniger 's point is that the hot, humid weather merely influenced southern culture, not that it determined racial characteristics. Architecture is perhaps the most noticeable sign of the impact air-conditioning has had on the South. Older homes featured porches and verandas on which families gathered on hot summer evenings. They simply rocked on porch swings and chatted--passing down stories and traditions along with local gossip and political ideology. Koeniger and Arsenault argue that air-conditioning trapped families inside, where they could watch television rather than talk to each other. Community planners are beginning to reverse this trend. Celebration, Florida, a new planned community near Disney World, and other suburban communities insist on front porches to foster a sense of community, but is this a case of too little too late? Further, air-conditioning made windows less important. Often architects design buildings with large, ornamental windows that let light in but do not open to let in a breeze as well. Air-conditioning means that they can use large pieces of glass without worrying about whether there is enough shade to cool the building. And then there is the mall, which has few windows and often generic characteristics. Although new, upscale malls are built to be distinctive, they do not necessarily incorporate unique, regional characteristics. Office spaces in the growing urban areas are similarly generic. Industries and various businesses could relocate in the South because climate control technology increased productivity and could ameliorate the humidity in factories. But this also meant an influx of northerners in the South, bringing with them their own cultural beliefs. Further, the presence of air-conditioning in offices, factories, and even tractor cabs buried the old southern casual approach to labor. Air-conditioning increases productivity, allowing us to get more work done during the day, and making the traditional easy-going lifestyle less necessary. So, the same factors that made the Sunbelt possible, also worked against its unique regional characteristics. American Culture of Cool Indeed, air-conditioning is so central to our lives that we miss it when it is not there. Discussion Ideas The class as a whole, including the teacher, could start out by talking about the ways in which they use climate control. It is important, I think, to include yourself and your own preferences to get the conversation started and generate a sense of consensus on which to build. When do you turn on the air-conditioning? At what temperature do you usually set it? Do you need to leave it on while you sleep at night? How often do you open your windows to catch a breeze? How much time do you spend outside during the summer and what sorts of things do you do while you are outside? What would you do if the power went out, you had no air-conditioning, and the mall was not an option? Of course, these questions would not work in a relatively cold climate. Growing up in Syracuse, New York, we kept the windows open and played outside in the sunshine. 85 degree days were as hot as it generally got. But I now live in Indiana, where 85 degrees is more like the average daily temperature in the summer. These differences accentuate regional differences that Raymond Arsenault and Marcia Ackerman believe air-conditioning blurs. At this point, classes can debate the effects of air-conditioning on American regional differences. Are Arsenault and Ackerman correct? Does air-conditioning blur regional distinctions? Architecture is another approach to this discussion. Students might observe the ways in which malls are similar and different. What clues do malls give them about where in the nation they are? What is distinctive about malls in general? Do Americans spend so much time at the mall because the temperature and humidity are regulated? Teachers might also want to show students the ways in which different architectural styles maximized cooling breezes to ameliorate hot weather before air-conditioning. Then, compare and contrast those styles with modern buildings. Schools are particularly good examples because most were built to protect students from the weather. The windows in my middle school, for example, were sealed shut because of the central air-conditioning and heating system. My high school, which was built more than a decade previously, had no air-conditioning even though we took final exams in June. We had to open the windows and bring industrial size fans into the classrooms and gyms. Also, how many of you and your students know older people who have retired to southern or southwestern communities to escape the winter? Or, if the class lives in those areas, how many of the neighbors are originally from another part of the country? Classes could think about the meanings of the word "cool," studying the origin of this slang term. When did it come to mean fashionable, stylish, and hip? Is it related to our American culture of "cool comfort?" Marsha Ackerman writes that F. Scott Fitzgerald was among the first to use "cool" as a compliment in the 1920s, when air-conditioning became more popular. Students can study advertising images that stressed the benefits of air-conditioning for men and women. Also, teachers might want to compare Americans ' "romance with air-conditioning" to Europeans ' reluctance to embrace the artificial cooling breezes. The devastating heat wave this past summer generated a lot of discussion and news stories about how Europeans tried to keep themselves cool and the scarcity of air-conditioning. References Arsenault, Raymond. "The End of the Long Hot Summer: The Air Conditioner and Southern Culture." The Journal of Southern History 50 (November 1984): 597-628. Koeniger, A. Cash. "Climate and Southern Distinctiveness." The Journal of Southern History 54 (February 1988): 21-44. Web Sites Susanna Robbins is a graduate student at Indiana University as well as the assistant editor of the OAH Magazine of History. Look for more articles on teaching Talking History in future issues. |
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