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Atomic Alert traveling exhibit rendering

Next appearing at:

Osage County Fair

  • Location: Osage City, Kansas
    Dates: Jul 10 - Jul 13, 2024
Mississippi Deptartment of Archives & History
  • Location: Jackson, Mississippi
    Dates: Sep 7 - Nov 2, 2024
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Atomic Alert!

Confronting “The Bomb” in the New Atomic Age

Traveling Exhibit


The Soviet Union’s detonation of its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949, thrust the United States into a new and more precarious era. Just four years after celebrating victory in World War II as the only nation with an atomic bomb, Americans now found themselves confronting the probability of an atomic war.

Over the next decade, the government, through the newly formed Federal Civil Defense Administration, issued posters, pamphlets, and related materials; offered training courses; sponsored civil defense conferences; and worked in cooperation with state and local civil defense entities as well as the private sector to prepare men, women, and children for the day “the bomb” might fall.

Atomic Alert!: Confronting “The Bomb” in the New Atomic Age explores the government’s efforts to educate Americans about what to do before an atomic attack; how to react to a sudden, blinding flash; and what action to take in the aftermath of an atomic blast.

Visitors to Atomic Alert! will:

  • learn more about the FCDA’s efforts to promote the nation’s civil defense program;
  • explore how Americans prepared themselves and their families for when the bombs might fall; and
  • consider how an earlier period in American history sparked a similar national reaction to a threat to the American way of life.

Featuring artifacts and interpretation from Michael Scheibach, Ph.D., independent scholar and author, Atomic Alert! offers a unique opportunity to revisit the early atomic age when the world was divided between two atomic-armed adversaries: the United States and the Soviet Union.

Atomic Alert traveling exhibit top-down rendering
  • Exhibit fee Starts at $120/day
  • Duration Flexible!
  • Target audience Ages 8 and above
  • Square footage for full exhibit 1,500 ft2
  • Shipping fees use cost estimator

cost estimator

Atomic Alert traveling exhibit rendering side view

Atomic Alert! features a large interactive called “When the Bomb Falls,” which allows visitors to explore the impact of a nuclear blast on a geographic area. From the innermost circle, where survival is near impossible, to the outer edges of the blast radius, where the immediate impact is less severe but the threat of radiation from fallout remains. Featuring a large sculptural a-bomb, “When the Bomb Falls” draws visitors closer, all while exploring the dangers of proximity to an atomic explosion.

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Overland Traveling Exhibits - Atomic Alert 'Partners in Defense' element

"Partners in Defense" unit

Overland Traveling Exhibits - Atomic Alert 'On the Alert' element

"On the Alert" unit

Overland Traveling Exhibits - Atomic Alert 'Fallout' element

"Fallout" unit

Overland Traveling Exhibits - Atomic Alert fallout diagram element

Fallout diagram


Atomic Alert traveling exhibit artifacts

A Special Collection

Atomic Alert! features posters, brochures, stand-up displays, and other educational material produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration to prepare everyday Americans for the possibility of nuclear war. Hand-picked from the extensive collection of scholar Michael Scheibach, the artifacts evoke what life was like for Americans at the dawn of the Atomic Age.

Included A/V Content

Atomic Alert features a touchscreen kiosk featuring vintage FCDA educational titles, including "Duck & Cover" starring Bert the Turtle!

Bert the Turtle

Delivered & Installed

We deliver and install the exhibit, while you sit back and watch! It only takes a few hours to setup.

We dare you to find a traveling exhibit of this scale that takes less of your staff’s precious time!

Delivery & Installation Process
Overland Delivery and Installation
Atomic Alert Exhibit marketing resources

Resources to Help You Succeed

The Atomic Alert exhibit comes with a growing list of resources to help you do your job.

  • Social media images for you to post
  • A sandwich board to put outside your museum
  • A vinyl banner you can install if you’d like
  • A sample press release you can customize
  • An exhibit poster you can print and post around town
View resources

Atomic Alert Schedule

Cost starts at $120 / day, with daily rate declining for longer bookings.

You set the schedule. Get a quote.


Upcoming Bookings

Jul 10 - Jul 13, 2024 - Osage County Fair, Osage City, KS

Sep 7 - Nov 2, 2024 - Mississippi Dept. of Archives & History, Jackson, Mississippi

Past Bookings

Mar 18 - May 6, 2020 Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts
Cancelled - COVID-19
Mar 15 - Jun 18, 2021 Historical Society of Clay County, Moorhead, Minnesota
Jun 28 - Aug 15, 2021 Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts

Reserve the exhibit!

Schedule a Presentation with the Curator


Michael Scheibach - Curator of Atomic Alert

Michael Scheibach

Michael Scheibach, Ph.D., curator of Atomic Alert!: Confronting “The Bomb” in the New Atomic Age, is an independent scholar specializing in the history of the early Cold War from 1945 through the 1960s. Dr. Scheibach is also a collector of artifacts and is the author of Atomic Narratives and American Youth: Coming of Age with the Atom, 1945-1955; Protecting the Home Front; In Case Atom Bombs Fall; Atomics in the Classroom; Alert America.

Schedule a Presentation

Speaker Information

Honorarium $400 + Travel Expenses

Presentation Topics

  1. The Early Cold War: The Atomic Bomb, the Soviet Union, and “Mutually Assured Destruction”
  2. Living with the Atomic Bomb: Popular Culture and “The Bomb” in the 1950s and early 1960s
  3. Protecting the Home Front: The Role of Women in Civil Defense in the Early Cold War
  4. Atomics: The Atomic Bomb, Education, and School Students in the Early Postwar Era
  5. The Baby Boom Generation: Coming of Age with the Atomic Bomb
  1. Duck and Cover: Civil Defense Drills and Mock Air Raids in the 1950s
  2. Safeguarding Democracy in the Atomic Age
  3. Atomic Alert: Confronting “The Bomb” in the Early Cold War
  4. “The Bomb” and American Society in the 1950s and 1960s
  5. Alert America: The Atomic Bomb and the 1952 Government Exhibit “That May Save Your Life”

Founding Institutions


Thanks to the following institutions for being willing to support this project from the very beginning. We couldn’t have done it without you!

  • Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County
  • Museum of Russian Icons