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When Kairos Compels Composition: Women’s Response to the 1924 Burpee Seed Company® Contest, “What Burpee Seeds Have Done for Me”

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In 1924, the W. Atlee Burpee & Company® announced a contest calling for letters responding to the prompt, “What Burpee’s Seeds Have Done for Me.” By the deadline, Burpee had… Click to show full abstract

In 1924, the W. Atlee Burpee & Company® announced a contest calling for letters responding to the prompt, “What Burpee’s Seeds Have Done for Me.” By the deadline, Burpee had received thousands of letters, many written by women. Significant elements of this early twentieth-century contest influenced women’s response. These elements—the historical context, the call for letters, and the act of gardening—converged in a kairotic fashion to form a rhetorical opportunity particularly accessible for women. The contest allowed women to apply familiar rhetorical acts in risky and self-promoting ways to validate their work and publicly identify as successful gardeners.

Keywords: seed; women response; burpee seeds; seeds done; contest; burpee

Journal Title: Rhetoric Review
Year Published: 2019

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