ATLANTA, GA — The Atlanta History Center is set at a constant and comfortable 70 degrees Farenheit. But lest folks fail to appreciate that in the hot and humid South, curator Don Rooney, offers a gentle nudge.
As visitors enter an exhibit on comfort cooling, they are briefly blasted with hot air from a space heater before the air conditioning takes over. The exhibit stresses the history of air conditioning starting in the 1930s and how it changed the South forever. For example, Southern state populations grew — for better or worse. "General Electric has proved a more devastating invader than General Sherman when it comes to ruining the South’s distinctive character, said University of South Florida historian Raymond Arsenault.