July 16, 2022 The quarterly meeting will be held at the former Carthage Senior Citizens building at 301 Main Street starting at 7 PM. The program for the evening will be on a wonderful display of mousetraps. The late Evan E. Evans collected traps for over 25 years. His son, Tim Evans, now has the collection and has presented displays and educational series of the traps. Tim is also the brother of former Judge Steve Evans of Hancock County. Tim says he inherited the "collecting” gene from his father. He collects everything from antique advertising and typewriters to early radios and stringed  

"Now a multimillion dollar industry, the mousetrap business has provided jobs for thousands of Americans. Many of those workers were employed by large manufacturers such as "Victor" and “McGill.” Others worked in small plants, sometimes garages and basements.” 

the latest gadgets coming out of Silicon Valley today. 

The age-old battle between man and mouse has created an unending search to find an effective tool to easily kill mice, which for centuries have threatened food supplies and spread disease. Yankee author and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, is often credited with the idiom: "If you build a better mousetrap the world will be a path to your door." It is about more than mousetraps though. Emerson cast the mousetrap as representing the American spirit of invention and the quest for the next new great idea, 

Many have taken that challenge to heart. More than 4,400 parents have been awarded for mousetraps since 1838. That is more than any other household object. And every year about 400 new patent applications are filed by inventors hoping they've finally built a better mousetrap." 

My connection to mousetraps comes through my father, the late Evan E. Evans. He was a collector of just about everything, as well as a student of history and a storyteller who never let facts get in the way of a good yarn. We became interested in the subject of mousetraps after discovering an unusual trap that resembled a miniature mouse jail while we were remodeling an old home in LeRoy, Illinois, back in the 1960s. Before that, the only type of mousetrap I knew of was the 

ubiquitous rectangular snap trap. And you might be interested to know it has a tie to Knox County in western Illinois," 

“Others were miniature guillotines. Still, others choked or squeezed their targets. Many were so complicated that they bordered on the absurdity of a classic Rube Goldberg cartoon contraption. 

My father amassed more than 1,000 traps over about 25 years of collecting. He often spoke to groups, from school children to senior citizens, about his various traps and how they fit into American history. He became so well known for his role as the “Mousetrap Man” that even the United States postal service e was aware of his collection and delivered a letter to him that was addressed: 'The man with a large selection of mousetraps, LeRoy, IL."" 

“Possibly the first patent for the common spring-loaded snap trap was awarded in 1894 to William C. Hooker of Abington, who received U.S. patent 528671. Hooker's simple-yet-effective design remains the most common and popular trap style more than 125 years later. 

That doesn't mean others didn't try to best his design. Many offered versions that were simply variations on the snap trap, but others were altogether different, Some drowned: their prey. Some electrocuted mice. Some kept them alive.” 

 

"When my father died in 1993, the collection came into my possession (my older and more distinguished brothers were not as interested in housing 1,000 mousetraps). I have tried to carry on his legacy as "Son of Mousetrap Man”. Our trap collection has been featured in two books, in a display of 'Indiana oddities' at the Indiana State Fair and on PBS (Public Broadcasting Station) and several Indianapolis televisions. It was even featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not! Cartoon." 

COME, Bring friends and enjoy a great show. You will want to have bites for refreshments and enjoy tales of the famous and historic mousetraps!!!!! Admission is free to this event.