Topic
Baden-Powell, vintage handbooks, old patches and the stories of long-ago camps. Scouting's past was a favorite subject, and collectors shared their finds.
90 posts · 2008–2020
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Think you can spot a fake? Fake patches and other phony Scouting memorabilia, that is. These items are Scouting's currency. You collect them, trade them, and pass them on to your children and grandchildren. And like any currency, people looking to make a quick buck from unsuspecting victims will produce counterfeit and unauthorized versions of…
With more than 100 years of history, it's no surprise that Scouting has seen its fair share of innovation and change. And collecting historic artifacts - uniforms, handbooks, and, of course, patches - from the past is a popular activity with many Scouts and Scouters.
I sometimes think I do not fit the typical requirements for holding the position of scoutmaster. For example, I do not drink coffee. I do not need to have a cup or three of java to get going in the morning.
Look up while riding a bus or train today, and you'll probably see ads for the latest movie or hit TV show. But if you rode one of San Francisco's famous streetcars in the 1930s, you might have spotted the Boys' Life advertisement seen above.
Patches, patches, and more patches. I have quite a few patches. I have already written about my collection of 2001 National Jamboree council shoulder patches, and the collection of Order of the Arrow lodge patches. Add these two together and you may get close to how many patches are in my regular Council Shoulder Patch…
The Reading Merit Badge was introduced to the Boy Scouts of America advancement program in 1925. Boys already had plenty of reading material at that time, including books about fictional Boy Scouts named Tom Slade, Roy Bakely, and Pee-Wee Harris.
So the last couple of weeks Scoutmaster Steve at A Scoutmaster's Blog and Bryan at Bryan on Scouting have been blogging each Monday about scouting memorabilia. So I thought I would join in on this series. Today's patches are from Conclave 2010 which our lodge hosted at Camp Russell.The theme for this conclave was Arrow…
Living in Texas, I see this "Scouting Teaches Values" license plate on the highway at least once a week. You'll find similar plates on vehicles in Utah , Oklahoma , Florida , Arkansas , Ohio , Colorado , and many more states. But, as I found out today, BSA-themed license plates are nothing new.
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell was born on February 22nd, 1857. In addition to founding the International Scouting Movement, Powell was a Lieutenant-General with the British Army and later authored several books on military reconnaissance and training before completing Scouting for Boys in 1908.
You'll hear about a troop's history in a variety of ways. Some seasoned Scouters will sit at the campfire and tell you the story of their troop from memory. Other units keep detailed scrapbooks or photo albums to pass on to future generations.
On this Memorabilia Monday I would like to present four books of my collection that share a theme of Scouting History. The first book is The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure , written by Robert W. Peterson, and published in 1984.
One song from my time as a Scout stands out among all others. I have forgotten most of the words as time has passed, but I still remember the song's tune and its key lyric: "I want to go back to Philmont."
When movie stars and athletes pose for a glossy, colorful poster, it's routine. But when Bill Ward of Landenberg, Pa., was asked to star in a BSA national campaign, it was a life-changing moment. That's a 12-year-old Bill on the right in the poster seen here.
Most Scouters enjoy their cup of coffee in the morning. I never started drinking coffee. Hot chocolate was more my thing. I do, like many Scout Leaders, have a collection of Scouting themed coffee mugs. It seems that every Scout Leader I know has a collection of Scouting mugs.
It doesn't have the historical weight of W.D. Boyce's meeting with the Unknown Scout, but Bob Olafson considers his meeting with William Hillcourt to be just as special. Olafson met Hillcourt, known to you and me as "Green Bar Bill," and was never the same.
Before there was the internet, dvd's, or even vhs tapes, council and district training sessions used filmstrips to assist training adult leaders. I happen to own four filmstrips used by our council in the 1980′s. The council was going to throw them in the trash until I said I would take them.
Bryan Wendell, the writer of the Bryan On Scouting blog (formally known as the Cracker Barrel) wrote an article today that I found to be quite interesting. He wrote about Memorabilia Monday. He encouraged readers to send in a picture of something from their Scouting collection along with a short description.
Last week, I asked you to dust off boxes, dig through storage closets, and scour your attic for pieces of Scouting memorabilia. But for some of you, I'll bet your BSA memories aren't stuffed in a box somewhere. I'm sure they're proudly displayed in your home.
Whether it's tucked away in the attic or proudly displayed on your mantel, everyone who was in the Boy Scouts of America has a favorite piece of Scouting memorabilia. Eagle Scout and current Scouter Mark Truax sent us a picture of his favorite item, a Coca-Cola ad promoting the 1937 National Scout Jamboree.
I never realized where my time spent in scouting would ever take me, in fact when I was I scout, I thought that the program was just camping, merit badges, advancement, and achieving the highly coveted Eagle Scout Rank. Little did I know that later in life, when my son asked to join scouts, that…
