The Coolest Revolution: How Air Conditioning Changed America

Nic Baird, Sam Grant, Mark Marshburn, Jackson Willis Senior Division Group Historical Web Site

Why was this topic chosen? This year, we decided to seek a revolution that continues to have an impact on our everyday lives and the development of American society. At the same time, we hoped to deviate from revolutions that focused on conflicts or politics in an effort to find something unique. As residents of Florida, we were drawn to air-conditioning because it had a significant impact on the history of our state as well as early inspirations from John Gorrie, a physician who worked in Florida. We also liked that air-conditioning was a cultural and social revolution, which offered a different perspective to this years theme.

How was research conducted? Preliminary research started online as a group in pursuit of a large picture to formulate a thesis for our project. Thereafter, we met in the library to search printed works as well as to use our schools access to historical document and scholarly article databases such as JSTOR and ProQuest. We then proceeded separately as well as collaboratively with online research before beginning to question community members and older relatives about their recollection of air conditionings reformation of American society. Toward the culmination of our research we sought correspondence with historical professionals on the revolution before consolidating our bibliography in Modern Language Association (MLA) style with the required annotations.

Why was this category selected for the entry, and how was the entry created? The web site category was concluded as the most appropriate for our entry due to the mediums versatility and large array of options. Because the revolution of air-conditioning would occur and have significant impact after the invention of film and photography, we hoped the web

site category would allow for the incorporation of visual primary sources. The entry was created by first establishing a thesis statement and an outline as a group. We then pursued some sections separately to be efficient. After each member of the group had finished their writing and collecting media for their portion, we met as a whole to share the information we discovered and incorporate everyones work into the website through Weebly. We finished the project with the consolidation of sources into our bibliography and by writing this process paper.

How does this project relate to this years theme? The development of air-conditioning constitutes a revolution in how it quickly changed American lifestyles by overcoming seasonal heat or the warmth of city life. Air-conditioning was quickly faced with an enthusiastic reaction from the population; this reaction would spur the industry of air-conditioning to make cool living spaces a common luxury to meet the overwhelming demand. Finally, air-conditioning would reform how Americans would seek pleasant living, as they no longer had to leave cities or move north to escape blazing summer heat into the comfort of seventy-two degrees.