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BSA a Pictorial History. Of the Early Days. "One must look to the past to understand where one is going." -- Dave Scott, Scouting Historian. Baden-Powell Founder of Scouting in England. Baden-Powell’s original Boy Scout Handbook Which was published in book form in 1908.
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BSA a Pictorial History Of the Early Days "One must look to the past to understand where one is going." -- Dave Scott, Scouting Historian
Baden-Powell’s original Boy Scout Handbook Which was published in book form in 1908
Dan Beard One of the Founders Of the BSA Dan Beard taught boys pioneering skills
In 1880 Dan Beard wrote one of the most popular boy’s“how to” books of all time (at right.) The book is still in print. Many Scout crafts and pioneering ideas came from Uncle Dan Beard
Uncle Dan ran a camp where he taught skills to boys. This is an axe throwing ceremony that he taught the boys. Uncle Dan is to the right of the boy throwing the axe.
Ernest Thompson Seton was a renowned naturalist, author and illustrator and another Founder of the BSA. Prior to the forming of the BSA he had a boys organization called the Woodcraft Indians Above are some of the boys that were invited to camp out at Ernest Seton's estate, where Seton taught them Indian lore & how to live in the outdoors.
"A tepee, Wyndygoul -- Camp Flying Eagles." Photos show Woodcraft Indians camping in 1908 on the Connecticut estate of Ernest Thompson Seton. Our traditions of nature study, merit badges, Native American lore and tracking come directly from Seton Seton was the first to use Tenderfoot to denote a new Scout.
Scouting Founders: Ernest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell (B-P) and Daniel Carter Beard. Taken on the rooftop of the YMCA building in New York in 1910
Original Edition of the BSA Handbook. Compiled by Ernest Seton in 1910. It is ½ Scouting for Boys and ½ Birch Bark Roll of Woodcraft Indians. The cover is pattered after B-P’s handbook. It has no index and is weak on woodcraft skills, first aid, and the square knot is shown incorrectly tied. It has an Honors program for super achievers. To earn High Honors in big game hunting, the animal a Scout had to kill was an elephant, gorilla, gray wolf (without traps), or a grizzly bear!
President Teddy Roosevelt supported both Seton’s and Beard’s organizations. After he left office in 1909 he was still a dynamic supporter of the fledgling BSA. One early Scout leader said, "The two things that gave Scouting great impetus and made it very popular were the uniform and Teddy Roosevelt's jingoism." He remained active in Scouting to the end of his life. The Boy Scouts of America gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to hold such title.
The BSA’s first summer camp and leadership training was in August 1910 at the YMCA Silver Bay camp on Lake George, NY. Seton modeled it after B-P’s Brownsea Island camp and presented nature studies, woodcraft and camping skills. Uncle Dan Beard showed up the last day and proceeded to demonstrate axe throwing to anyone who would watch. The Scouts thought it was “keen” and Seton tells us Uncle Dan proceeded to “destroy every large tree in camp.”
In 1911, James West was hired as the BSA’s Executive Secretary He would become the guiding hand of the BSA for the next 30 years. No one had more influence on the success of the BSA than West. He didn’t have the mystique of Seton or Beard, but he had the administrative and marketing skills both men lacked.
Official 1st Edition BSA Boy Scout Handbook Completely rewritten by a team of experts under James West’s oversight and published in 1911. This handbook was superior to Seton’s effort. It is better organized and better written. It also removed the clumsy “honors” system from the 1st handbook.
Troop from 1910. They wear the tunic that was the official uniform. They are wearing fatigue caps rather than the regulation campaign hats. The hiking staffs were part of the original uniform. Note the uniformity of their turn out.
Arthur Eldred, at 17, the first Eagle Scout. Arthur earned his first class badge in March, 1911. Like many of the first few Eagle Scouts, Eldred did not receive either a Life or Star Badge (Life proceeded Star until 1922), but went straight to Eagle. At this time, First Class was considered the highest rank in Scouting, but Scouts could be “Merit Scouts” by earning the required merit badges to become a Life Scout, Star Scout and an Eagle Scout. In the early days of the BSA, these awards might be likened more to super merit badges rather than ranks. Eldred completed the required 21 merit badges for Eagle in April of 1912.
Scout Troop In front of Post Office – 1913. Uniforms are military style without epilates. Note most are wearing regulation campaign hats. Turning the brim up was considered “keen.”
1st Aid ca. 1912. Shows shirts worn under tunics. Note neckerchief tied around collar. It was optional and not regulation size until the 1920s. Official shirts and tunics had metal buttons with BSA logo.
Litter made from hiking staffs and tunics. Ca. 1912 (Scout at right wearing patrol colors on wrong shoulder also wearing Patrol Leader lanyard.) Leggings were in common use until the late 1920s.
Hunter's Island, New York, circa 1912. "Boy Scouts at Hunter's Island. Writing to the folks at home."
Boy Scouts at Gettysburg circa 1913 “performing the time-honored camp ritual of water bucket to the head.” Thankfully this “ritual” was discontinued a long time ago. I think we call this “water boarding” now.
More horsing around in 1913. The Scouts were at Gettysburg for a reunion of civil war veterans. The Scouts served as escorts to the veterans during the encampment, acted as aides and messengers in the army hospitals, and acted as couriers for various officials.
Many books and magazine articles came out about adventures of Boy Scoutsthis book came out in 1913.
2nd Edition Handbook 1914-1927 • Cover has 4 mistakes: • No string on bottom of Scout Badge • There is no semaphore letter that corresponds to this flag position • Flags are Morse Code flags • Patrol colors on wrong shoulder Fix 1 Fix 2
Washington, D.C., circa 1916. "Boy Scouts fire drill." Hey Chief, can I ring the bell? Boy by bell has Patrol Leader Bars
In 1916 John Philip Sousa wrote the Boy Scout March
MIA Scouts in front of the LDS Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City (1917). In May, 1913, the M.I.A. Scouts, upon invitation from the National Council, affiliated with and became a part of the Boy Scouts of America.
July 16, 1917. An exciting game of "mumble-the-peg“ (aka Mumbly-Peg) at scout camp outside New York City.
Selling War Bonds ca 1917. The BSA was never a paramilitaryorganization. A fact stressed in both the Handbook for Boys andthe Handbook for Scoutmasters. However, the organization supportednational programs during wartime. (note: driver not in a BSA uniform)
A troop from New Jersey (lots of Eagles and Life Scouts here) Ca 1926. Note the Leggings are gone replaced with high stockings. Also Neckerchiefs are now officially a part of the uniform.
Scout Executive W. E. "Skipper" Vaughan-Lloyd and Scouts on the lawn of the Forsyth County courthouse in Winston-Salem, circa 1925. The troop was run by the Scoutmaster, they didn’t use the Patrol Method, but that was about to change.
Games such as “running the gauntlet” were still common during this timehaving been introduced in 1910 by Dan Beard and others. Picture from Dan Beard’sBoy Pioneers handbook. Boy Scouts used rolled up neckerchiefs (with nothingin them.) ref: The Boy Scout Service Library, Series B, No. 6, Boy Scouts of America, 1927
Capture the flag and many other wide games were common from the veryfirst days of Scouting.
A young man of 26 convinced James West to use the Patrol Method that was being found very successful by Baden-Powell in Europe. The young man was William Hillcourt (shown at left at 35yo with B-P) West gave the Patrol Method a chance by asking Hillcourt to write a Handbook for Patrol Leaders and some articles in Boys Life. The articles would be under the name “Green Bar Bill.” The Handbook for Patrol Leaders, and especially the Handbook for Scoutmasters that Hillcourt wrote in 1936 would change everything for the BSA, and our organization grew by leaps and bounds. No other man was as influential in how troops and patrols were run in the BSA than Green Bar Bill.
The Books that Changed the BSA Green Bar Bill introduced the Patrol Method to the BSA in two books. The Handbook for Patrol Leaders in 1929 (left) And the 3rd Edition of the Handbook for Scoutmasters in 1936.
Boy Scout Camp 1930 Note the shorts
Photo of Eagle Scout R. Emmet Gribbin, Jr. of Winston-Salem, NC. 1931
The 1935 nationalJamboree was rescheduled becauseof a polio epidemic. It was held in 1937 FDR was a great supporter of Scoutingand served on a number of Councils.It is thought that hecontracted polio athis Boy Scout Council’sJamboree in 1921 inNew York State. President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcasts his Jamboree Invitation to America's Scouts--Walter Head, President of the Boy Scouts of America, Dr. James E. West, Chief Scout Executive, and an Honor Guard of Eagle Scouts - 1937
May 1937. "Boy Scout Jamboree. Boy Scouts sightseeing on Capitol Transit buses."
In 1938, Waite Phillips gave 35,857 acres of his ranch to the Boy Scouts of America. They called it Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp (after Phillips' name and the slogan "Do a Good Turn Daily"). In 1941, Phillips donated more land. The property, now totaling 127,395 acres, was renamed Philmont Scout Ranch. In 1963, Norton Clapp, donated 10,098 more acres. Today, the ranch's total area is approximately 214 square miles.
During WWII Boy Scouts aid the war effort by delivering posters that encourage a united fight for freedom, ca.1943.
Collecting scrap metal during WWII. Neckerchiefs were 32” x 32” square
Scouts singing 1942
