Specification Studio
Specifying Territories: Colonial Practices of Material Selection is about visualizing the land and material-based effects of historical and contemporary specifications alongside other supporting regulatory documents like patents, codes, certifications, treaties, and laws. In this studio, we linked regulatory documents with resource extraction from territories defined by colonial expansion.
Project Partner: Preston Funderburg
Lead Lasts
Over 80 years of CDC Mortality Statistics, FHA Annual reports, Mineral Yearbooks, and other documents show a relationship between lead poisoning, mining, and housing.
Nine out of ten homes built before 1950 have high lead paint toxicity. With Federal Housing Administration (FHA) specifications in the Paint Manual 1945 calling out the use of lead paint and housing statistics in the FHA Annual Report (1934-1948) it can be seen that lead paint was used in these homes and was endorsed by the US government. From the years 1937 to 1970 homeownership rose all over the country, especially in the Midwest. At the same time homeownership rates were rising, and so were paint sales of the company Sherwin-Williams, whose US Patents 2,265,473 and 2,237,104 show the use of lead in their paint, and lead mining in the US according to the Mineral Handbook 1932-1945.
In the Midwest, FHA specifications and government grants for housing created a need for paint from Sherwin-Williams which created a need for lead mining. The increase in homes, paint, and mining, specified by the FHA resulted in a trend of lead poisonings.
Operative Map 1942
This is a map of the lead extraction, housing built, the money given for housing, and deaths in the Midwest in 1942. With documents promoting lead-based paint at the time.
Operative Map 1945
This is a map of the lead extraction, housing built, the money given for housing, and deaths in the Midewest in 1945. With documents promoting lead-based paint at the time.
Operative Map Timeline of Lead-Based Paint
This is a timeline map of the lead extraction, housing built, the money given for housing, and deaths in the midwest for the full 80 years of lead-based paint
