Historical Studies Program and Dean of the College Present
Wear a Hat to Keep Your Feet Warm, and Other Lessons from the Science of Dressing for Extreme Weather in World War II
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Olin Humanities, Room 203
5:00 pm EST/GMT-5
5:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Rachel Gross
For outdoorspeople and residents of cold climates, layering clothing to avoid overheating might seem like common sense. If it does, that is in part because a group of clothing experts pushed their vision of bodily safety in cold weather over seventy years ago.During World War II, the U.S. Army and expert mountaineers designed and tested new uniforms and equipment for American soldiers. Between 1941 and 1945, the Army organized expeditions to the continent’s tallest mountains, built sealed rooms that simulated arctic winds and jungle heat, and taught hundreds of thousands of soldiers how to wear clothes. The military’s goal was to build a better soldier who would be warm, comfortable, and effective in combat. But the team of military scientists and outdoorspeople serving as consultants clashed over how to determine the right products for American bodies. Would war-tested clothing win out? Or the clothes developed in stateside laboratories?
The best way to master the outdoors mattered desperately, for there were millions of soldiers whose lives depended on the Army’s choices about what they should wear. Innovations such as down sleeping bags and nylon tents had consequences far beyond the war itself. The intimate, sweaty details of soldiers’ day-to-day lives and the lessons they learned while in service—lessons like layering clothing or wearing a hat to keep extremities warm—shaped their recreational interests and practices in the postwar period.
For more information, call 845-758-6874, or e-mail [email protected].
Time: 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Location: Olin Humanities, Room 203