I was reading the other day a book about homebrewing, published in Russia in the late nineteenth century... Overall their approach was very close to what people are doing today. Obviously, they did not have any Rubbermaid coolers, so they had to use oak barrels to mash, and wrapped it in cloth, piling on top some sacks with hay... And no immersion chillers also - there had shallow barrels, also wooden, with floating metal pans which they packed with ice, or just threw some ice in hot wort (given, as it is said in a footnote, that the ice is clean). Here are some pictures:
