Origins of the Flyswatter

Around 1910, Bennett's and Crumbine's stories run together, as the Scouts launched a nationwide "Swat the Fly" campaign, inspired by Crumbine and supported by Bennett's swatters.6 Crumbine's anti-fly campaign dovetailed with the U.S. Wire Mat Company's massive manu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Technology and culture 2019-07, Vol.60 (3), p.886-895
Main Authors: Soppelsa, Peter, Rodgers, Amy S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American culture
American literature
Bennett, John L (1874-1966)
Boys clubs
Children & youth
Crumbine, Samuel (1862-1954)
Design
Hardware
History of medicine and histology
Insects
Inventions
Laboratory animals
Lewis, Harry Sinclair (1885-1951)
Males
Montgomery, Robert R
Poetry
Public health
Subtitles & subtitling
Technological change
Vaccines
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Around 1910, Bennett's and Crumbine's stories run together, as the Scouts launched a nationwide "Swat the Fly" campaign, inspired by Crumbine and supported by Bennett's swatters.6 Crumbine's anti-fly campaign dovetailed with the U.S. Wire Mat Company's massive manufacturing project and the promotional force of the Boy Scouts through their magazine Boys' Life, then subtitled "For Boys and Boy Scouts" or "The Boy Scouts' Magazine." First are two anonymous and widely-reprinted poems called "Swat the Fly." The flyswatter became everyday thanks to public health authorities, zealous civil associations, entrepreneurs, designers, and writers who constructed it as a socially routine and stable artifact with a recognizable form and function. On Bennett, see: "John L. Bennett, Beer Can Pioneer"; "Who Made That (Fly Swatter)?" Reviews of the "King" in: "Stove and Hardware Dealers" (1900); "Price-Lists, Circulars, &c."; "Stove and Hardware Dealers" (1902); "Recent Trade Publications"; "King Fly Killer"; "Hardware"; "The King Fly Killer"; and "The 'King' Fly Killer."
ISSN:0040-165X
1097-3729
1097-3729
DOI:10.1353/tech.2019.0077