Today’s blistering summers have resulted in people around the world exploring new ways to keep cool. While air conditioning is now a common convenience, it hasn’t always been available—nor is it always guaranteed. And as reliance on air conditioning grows, so too does its toll on natural resources.

Curious as to how people in the past stayed cool before air conditioning, we asked staff at the National Trust’s Historic Sites and Historic Artists' Homes and Studios to share information about the vintage fans in their collections.

Read ahead to explore a selection of fans that are being preserved at historic sites around the country. For more inspiration, check out additional time-tested methods that provide relief from the summer heat.

Edith Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois)

While the Edith Farnsworth House does not technically have a vintage fan in its collection, the site itself includes a house fan. Located in the floor of the utility closet, the fan draws cool air into the house and exhausts warm air through the metal grille beneath the kitchen sink. When staying there, Edith Farnsworth would open the hopper windows in the sleeping area and the doors between the dining area and what was once the screened porch. She would then turn on the house fan to circulate cool air through the house. Later, in the 1990s, an air conditioning unit was installed.

Cliveden (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people used handheld fans to keep cool. Cliveden, which was occupied from the 1760s to the 1970s, houses a variety of fans from this period. They are made from paper, wood, feathers, ivory, and mother-of-pearl, and some are decorated with hand-painted and printed designs. The cardboard fan featured above dates to the nineteenth century and depicts children representing the twelve months of the year. Inventors like Schuyler Wheeler created models of electric fans in the 1880s, but they did not become widely available until the 1920s. By the mid-1900s, electric fans were commonplace.

Oatlands (Leesburg, Virginia)

In addition to their practical use, handheld fans also functioned as fashionable, decorative accessories. The fan in Oatlands’ collection is stamped with the words “Bowman’s Harrisburg PA April 1919” on the front. On the back, the fan features the Rotary Club logo and the words “5th District Convention.” This fan was likely a promotional souvenir offered to convention attendees. Beginning in the 1700s, fans were used as commemorative objects. Guests at weddings, church gatherings, business events, and other large occasions were sometimes given handheld fans as gifts, as was likely the case with Oatlands’ feathery yellow fan.

Charles & Ray Eames Foundation (Pacific Palisades, California)

Handheld fans also had a moment at the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, which was inducted to the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program in May 2026. On July 24, 1951, designers Charles and Ray Eames hosted a traditional Japanese tea ceremony to celebrate the marriage of their friends, artist Isamu Noguchi and actress Yoshiko Yamaguchi, also known professionally as Shirley Yamaguchi. At the ceremony, guests were served tea on the LTR tables designed by the Eameses, and Noguchi’s Akari light sculptures illuminated the space. Charles and Ray Eames received handheld fans and yukatas—light, breathable cotton kimonos—as gifts from the tea master who led the ceremony. Actor Charlie Chaplin was among the guests present and is pictured above performing his own rendition of a traditional Nō dance with one of the handheld fans given to the Eameses.

Wilson House (Washington, District of Columbia)

The vintage fan in the Wilson House’s collection is from the Marshall Islands. Constructed from natural, locally sourced materials, it reflects traditional Micronesian design and craftsmanship. While the date of the fan is unknown, it was likely acquired by Edith Wilson, an avid traveler.