It’s Your History

2010 is the 100^th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. Throughout the year I will be posting files that outline the history of the BSA upon this page. In each chapter, I have appended not only the references where I originally obtained the information, but also a list of suggested books and articles for further reading. Much of the information is now available on the Internet. Let me know if there is anything you would like to know more information about.

– Bill Nelson, Salt River District, Grand Canyon Council

– SRD_Training@azscout.org

History Files

A Pictorial History (Microsoft Power Point format 7MB - Right Click and save file as)

All files below in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. After clicking on the link, give them time to load.

Campfire Yarn 1 – Lord Baden-Powell, Where it All Began

Campfire Yarn 1a – The Story of the Brown Sea Island Camp - The very first Boy Scout Camp in England

Campfire Yarn 2 – Ernest Thompson Seton – The Wolf That Changed America

Campfire Yarn 3 – William D. Boyce and the Unknown Scout

Campfire Yarn 4 – Daniel Carter Beard —“Uncle Dan”

Campfire Yarn 5 – James Edward West – The Captain of the Ship

Campfire Yarn 6 – William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt – The Man Behind the Patrol Method

Campfire Yarn 7 - The Evolution of the Boy Scouting Program

Campfire Yarn 8 - The History of the Grand Canyon Council

Campfire Yarn 9 - History of the Patrol Method in the BSA
The Patrol Method is the primary method of teaching in the Boy Scout program. Interestingly, it was not fully introduced by the BSA until 1936. This is a short history of how that came to be.

Campfire Yarn 9a - William Hillcourt's Introduction of the Patrol Method to Scoutmasters
"Get an easy chair and place it in a corner of the Troop meeting room.
If you can sink into it just after the opening ceremony and just sit
throughout the meeting, without a worry for its success, without lifting a
finger or moving a foot until time comes for the closing-well, then your Troop
is run on the Patrol Method-your boy leaders are actually leading."

Campfire Yarn 9b - Hillcourt's Patrol Method as a Handout

Campfire Yarn 9c - Hillcourt: Teaching Patrol Leaders

Campfire Yarn 9d - Hillcourt: Excerpts on Advancement from 1936 Handbook For Scoutmasters

Campfire Yarn 9e - BSA The Patrol Method - Patrol Helps for Scoutmasters (1938)

Tools, Games and Crafts:

Making a Commando Rope

Why a Boy Carries a Staff

Uses of a Scout Stave

SCOUTCRAFT FILE - Misc. Skills and Games

External Links:

Boy Scouts First Arizona Troop, In their Sunday Best - They had no uniforms, Tombstone, Arizona, C.1911

What Scout Camping was like in 1911

Games:

Games Boy Scouts Played in 1910

Boy Scout Advancement Games from Tenderfoot to First Class

Games for Scouts by A. W. N. MacKenzie

Scouting Magazine

Scouting Time Line

Faces of our Founders

Their names are splashed across Scout councils, camps, museums, and awards. So who were the men who created the Boy Scouts of America? Check out our quick introduction to nine of Scouting's key founders.

100^th Anniversary Issue

The History Cub Scouting

A History of Senior Scouting Programs of the BSA
Topics covered: Senior Scouts, Seascouts/Sea Scouts/Sea Explorers/Sea Scouts, Rover Scouts, Air Scouts/Air Explorers/Aviation Exploring, Explorer Scouts, Explorers, Exploring, Senior Scouts/Explorers in Troops, Senior Degree Honor Society, Emergency Service, Leadership Corps, Varsity Scouts, Venture/Varsity, Venturing, LFL/Exploring

The History and Purpose of the Order of the Arrow

Even More History of the Order of the Arrow

The Arizona Scouting Museum

Scouting in Arizona – Wikipedia entry

Famous BSA Scouts

History of Philmont Scout Ranch

History of Florida Sea Base

History of Northern Tier

BOOKS:

The Patrol System and Letters to a Patrol Leader by Roland Philipps. The first Patrol Leader handbook and the source of the saying, "The Patrol Method is not just a method of Scouting, it is the only method.

Aids to Scoutmastership B-P's Scoutmaster Handbook.

Scouting for Boys B-P's classic. Where it all began.

A lot more books from the early days of Scouting in England.

Page last updated 4/29/2012