‘Is Radioactive Iodine Present Equally in the Cream on Milk as in the Milk Itself?’: Lonely Sources and the Gendered history of Cold War Britain

Abstract

• This article argues that one way to foreground and privilege women's perspectives on the Cold War is by re-interpreting their historical experiences of food and drink. The article develops this argument by analysing one letter, from an unknown woman to the BBC, in the context of nuclear health concerns in early Cold War Britain. This article contends that where archival references to food, drink and women are ephemeral, a lonely source can describe historical experience that extends far beyond its singularity. While it would be easy to dismiss this letter as exceptional, it demonstrates one woman's informed and reasonable approach to an unstable and inexplicable topic. The article argues that divesting research from its traditional, masculine Cold War rules of perception contributes to a fairer view of previously ignored ‘feminine’ sources.