Elisabeth Beck Oral History Interview

Interview with Mrs. Elisabeth C. Beck, a retired entomologist with the state of Florida. Mrs. Beck began her career identifying mosquitoes during the start of World War II and later joined the state Board of Health in 1944 working for the Bureau of Mosquito Control. Her primary duties at the time involved mosquito identification. She would eventually become head of the mosquito identification lab for the state of Florida. During her tenure, Mrs. Beck was involved in many different insect control programs around the state and her research contributed to both the control of malaria and encephalitis as well as an early treatment program for tertiary syphilis. Mrs. Beck worked closely with many state health officers including Dr. John Mulrennan who was instrumental in Florida’s work on mosquito control. Mrs. Beck retired after working nearly five decades for the state of Florida