Unfinished Broom in Vise, South Union, KY
The flat broom can be attributed to a Shaker intervention. While for centuries brooms had been round, the Shakers—always innovators—found that flattening the broomcorn (a type of tasseled grass first used in the late 1700s) , holding it in a vise, and sewing it made this ubiquitous household implement more effective.
