Boyhood, Engineering, and the Model Airplane in American Culture
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MODELING BEHAVIOR: BOYHOOD, ENGINEERING, AND THE MODEL AIRPLANE IN AMERICAN CULTURE by AARON L. ALCORN Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Adviser: Dr. Carroll Pursell Department of History CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January 2009 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of ___Aaron L. Alcorn_______________________________________ candidate for the _______PhD_________________________degree *. (signed)__Carroll W. Pursell______________________________ (chair of the committee) ____Alan J. Rocke______________________ ____Renée Sentilles___________________________ ____Todd Oakley_____________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ (date) __12 August 2008_____________________ *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved For Karl TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii INTRODUCTION: Making Models, Making Boyhood 1 CHAPTER ONE: Inventing the Inventive Boy 19 “Our first began….”: The Origins of the Wondrous Boyhood of Orville and Wilbur Wright 22 The Inventor as Hero and the Mystique of the Boy Inventor 33 Tom Swift and the Boy Inventor in Series Fiction 49 Playing the Boy Inventor: Model Airplanes, The Wright Boys, and the Public Domain of Inventive Boy Discourse 62 CHAPTER TWO: Putting the Boy Inventor in His Place 81 Boy Culture and the Ideology of Independence 85 At Home and Tinkering 99 Workshops Outside the Home: E. Lillian Todd and the Junior Aero Club of America 107 Space and Place: Percy Pierce and the Identity of the Boy Inventor 123 Containing the Boy Inventor 133 CHAPTER THREE: Packaging Modernity: Towards an Ecology of the Model Airplane Hobby 140 “Purely Sporting Models”: Aeromodeling as Craft and Sport 144 “Too Expensive for Schoolboys”? 163 Boy Bricoleurs and Clever Tinkerers 174 Construction Kits and the Rise of the Boy Engineer 186 CHAPTER FOUR: Under Lindbergh’s Wing 204 A Hero for a New Age 207 Narrating the Boy Lindbergh: Popular Biography and Lore of Boyhood 222 Commodifying “Lindy”: Lindbergh and Commercialized Boy Culture 237 “America has found her wings…” 253 CHAPTER FIVE: “The Modern Boy is Air-Minded”: Boy Consumers and the Airplane Model League of America 273 Visions of an Air-minded Generation 276 Making Ways for Boy Consumers 288 The Airplane Model League of America and the Model Building Boy 296 Children’s Experiences and Tournament Preparations—The Case of Detroit 308 ii The AMLA’s Declining Fortunes and the Resilient Air-Minded Boy Consumer 322 CONCLUSION 333 BIBLIOGRAPHY 346 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Two views of boyhood 8 Figure 2: Alphonse Pénaud’s Hélicoptère (1870) and Planophore (1871) 26 Figure 3: Christian Schussele, Men of Progress (1862) 34 Figure 4: Cromwell Dixon, photograph (ca. 1907) 47 Figure 5: Tom Swift and His Motorcycle (1910), cover 53 Figure 6: “Cecil Peoli” Racer (1912) 67 Figure 7: Dandrieux Butterfly Toy (1879) 72 Figure 8: Orville Wright, Sketch of Boyhood Toy (1929) 75 Figure 9: “Heroes of the Air: Orville and Wilbur Wright” (ca. 1935) 78 Figure 10: Drawing of “inexpensive ‘American Boy’ Workshop (1909) 96 Figure 11: Sperry Home Floor Plan, Brooklyn, NY 103 Figure 12: Franklin Experimental Club, ca. 1890-1892, photograph 108 Figure 13: Illustrations of E. L. Todd, Washington Post (1908) 114 Figure 14: “A Young Inventor in His Workshop,” (1910) 125 Figure 15: “Percy Pierce Racer No. 68” (ca. 1912) 129 Figure 16: Lewis H. Hines, “Two Boys with Model Airplanes,” (n.d.) 141 Figure 17: “Percy Pierce Flyer” (1910) 149 Figure 18: “‘Ideal’ Curtiss Hydroplane” (1912) 155 iv Figure 19: “Storing Energy For a Long Distance Flight” (1910) 157 Figure 20: “Nealey Racing Monoplane” (1912); “Selley Monoplane” (1912) 159 Figure 21: “Surini Model” (1913); “The California Racer” (1912) 160 Figure 22: A-frame pusher advertisements (1912) 162 Figure 23: Ripping Strips from a Pine Board (1912) 176 Figure 24: “Directions for Carving a Propeller” (1915) 184 Figure 25: Drawing and Photograph of Finished Model (1910) 193 Figure 26: Ideal Model Airplane advertisement (1921) 198 Figure 27: “‘Ideal’ De Havilland Battle Plane” (1926) 200 Figure 28: Over the Ocean to Paris (1927), frontispiece 232 Figure 29: “His Second Great Feat,” editorial cartoon (1927) 239 Figure 30: “Lone Eagle” Brand Fruit Packing Label (ca. 1928) 241 Figure 31: “The ‘MOCAR’ Monoplane,” (1928) 246 Figure 32: Merrill Hamburg, “Build a 24-inch ‘Spirit of St. Louis,” (1928) 252 Figure 33: Harrison Cady, untitled illustration for American Boy, (1928) 256 Figure 34: “Dear Lindy” 258 Figure 35: National Playground Miniature Aircraft Tournament, (1927) 265 Figure 36: Harrison Cady, untitled illustration for American Boy, (1930) 281 Figure 37: “Win An Airplane Model Kit,” American Boy, (1928) 287 Figure 38: “Up in the CLOUDS…,” Cracker Jack Air Corps advertisement, (1930) 289 Figure 39: AMLA “Honor Certificate,” (1928) 298 Figure 40: Aram Abgarian, photograph, (1928) 317 Figure 41: “The A.M.L.A. Model Builder,” (ca. 1930) 326 v Figure 42: Certificate, Gimpel Brothers Junior Aviation League, (n.d.) 327 Figure 43: Cover, Toys and Novelties, (1935) 328 Figure 44: Model-building instruction at “Camp Duncan Grant,” (1923) 336 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I did not start graduate school with the intention of writing a dissertation on boyhood and model airplanes, nor would I have been able to complete this project were it not for the unwavering support of Carroll Pursell. Carroll has served as my advisor, mentor, and friend, and it was his example that allowed me to appreciate fully the possibilities of the history of technology. I credit the origins of this project to his passing remark about the importance of age in history, and his contagious enthusiasm sustained me through the long period of research and writing. The fact that I have the honor of being his final graduate student means more to me than words can express. While I owe to Carroll the greatest single intellectual debt, this dissertation would not have been possible were it not for the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University. Angela Woollacott and Jonathan Sadowsky demonstrated the utility of cultural theory to informing the questions historians ask of the past. Alan Rocke, David Hammack, John Grabowski, Molly Berger, Miriam Levin, and Renée Sentilles, by example and instruction, similarly reminded me of the power—and relevance—of history, as well as my responsibility as a historian. Todd Oakley, of the Department of Cognitive Science, introduced tools in his seminars on rhetoric and conceptual blending theory that allowed me to conceptualize (and reconceptualize) this project. Alan, Renée, and Todd served ably on my dissertation committee, offering thoughtful comments that only strengthened this project. Department assistants Nancy Kryz and Marissa Ross helped me negotiate the administrative hurdles of graduate school in more ways than I vii can remember. Jonathan Sadowsky and Associate Dean Denise Douglass proved incredibly patient and offered instrumental support after Carroll’s retirement. I am indebted to several scholars and colleagues who read drafts and chapters of this dissertation as it took shape. Ellen Landau, Bill Deal, and the members of the College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Writing Group provided wonderful comments on my first chapter. Martha Woodmansee, who directed this program, provided encouragement and an invitation to present my findings at the “Contexts of Invention” conference in 2006. My fellow graduate students, Bernie Jim, Geoff Zylstra, and Josh Palmer, read early drafts and encouraged me to consider the wider implications of my work. Dominic Pisano, Margaret Weitekamp, and Martin Collins at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) similarly provided welcome counsel at crucial times over the course of research and writing. Meetings of an informal group of Smithsonian predoctoral fellows provided a venue for testing ideas and I am particularly grateful to Mary Tinti, Alan Meyer, Christine Fillipone, and Jenifer Van Vleck for their thoughtful comments. Of these, Mary and Alan read multiple drafts and challenged me to become a better writer and scholar. Joe Corn, too, helped me find my way out of a frustrating period of writers’ block with his kind and generous advice. I am grateful to the staff of several research institutions whose professionalism and courtesy provided access to key collections, including the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), the Academy of Model Aeronautic’s National Model Aviation Museum (NMAM), the Hagley Museum and Library, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the New York Public Library, the Cleveland Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Detroit News. I must also thank the Special Collections viii and Archives Departments at several universities, including, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, Yale University, Wayne State University, Wright State University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. I too appreciate the efforts of archivists at the Smithsonian, including the Smithsonian Institution Archives, the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), and the archives and library at NASM. Space prevents me from thanking each person individually, but I must single