A Cultural Artifact of Simplicity
Today, vintage church fans are highly collectible items. They provide snapshots of a time when frugality mingled with tradition. Some fans included portraits of Jesus or verses of scripture. Others promoted local businesses, while providing them with advertisement. Funeral homes offered many fans since they were seen so frequently in Southern churches and rural congregational communities. These fans were everywhere.
They served a purpose other than cooling. Children would play with them. Elders would clutch them tightly as a sermon intensified. And after the service, whenever possible, they would be put back into their slot neatly.
A Forgotten Utility, Rediscovered
With the introduction of modern air conditioning, these simple fans have become primarily obsolete. The cutouts that once provided utility have faded from memory. Now, many people look at these pew slots and wonder what they were for. But anyone who sat fanning themselves through a sticky hot July sermon will easily recognize these little symbols of church life of yesteryear.
Even with new technology changing how we meet, gather, worship, and stay comfortable, little pieces like this remind us of a time when people made do with less. People were at least trying to be graceful about it, while fanning themselves with a sheet of cardboard that had started out as a business card.
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