Dan Becker wrote:

     "Shutters or blinds were one element of a total package of
     environmental control that was active and passive, as opposed to the
     mechanical systems employed today (HVAC).  People actively operated
     them as needed for the circumstance.  They helped to moderate the
     extremes of weather by providing protection to the sash during
     inclement weather (big storms, heavy winds, etc.).  They could also be
     closed to keep hot sun out of the interior to keep the structure
     cooler: with louvered blinds, as opposed to solid shutters, you could
     then open the sash and still get air movement (passive ventilation,
     thermal chimneys, etc.), while keeping out the heat gain from the
     sun's rays."

     It seems to me that I heard that lots of the shutters that people
     think of as typical of "Colonial" houses were actually 19th century
     additions.  Does anyone know anything about that?

     Also, many first floor shutters were not louvered but solid, even if
     the ones on the upper floors were louvered.  I think that was at least
     in part for the same reason that people nowadays put bars on their
     first floor windows--security.  Somehow I find it comforting that
     people were just as afraid of break-ins in the "good old days" as they
     are today.  If my facts are wrong, I'm not sure I want to be
     corrected!

     Marilyn Harper
     National Register of Historic Places
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