In most early cultures fans were symbols of royal power or had liturgical uses. It was not until almost the 18th century that fans became a mark of elegance. Seventeenth/eighteenth century fans were composed of a pleated sheet and a mount. The pleated sheet was composed of parchment, vellum, or skin in earlier French fans, and silk or paper in later ones. This and other differences in materials of 17th/18th century fans and of 19th century fans are discussed. Also briefly described are differences in fan construction. -- AATA