Heritage

Credit: All of the following was taken from Wikipedia, May, 2010.

Robert Baden-Powell

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, February 22, 1857 – January 8, 1941, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement.

Born Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell, known more familiarly as Stephe Powell, at 6 Stanhope Street (now 11 Stanhope Terrace), Paddington, in London, on February 22, 1857, Robert Stephenson, the railway and civil engineer being his godfather and namesake. His father, Reverend Baden Powell, a Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University, already had four teenage children from the second of his two previous marriages. On March 10, 1846, at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, Reverend Powell married Henrietta Grace Smyth (September 3, 1824 – October 13, 1914), eldest daughter of Admiral William Henry Smyth and 28 years his junior. Quickly they had Warington (early 1847), George (late 1847), Augustus (1849) and Francis (1850). After three further children who died when very young, they had Stephe, Agnes (1858) and Baden (1860). The three youngest children and the often ill Augustus were close friends. Reverend Powell died when Stephe was three, and as tribute to his father and to set her own children apart from their half-siblings and cousins, the mother changed the family name to Baden-Powell. Subsequently, Stephe was raised by his mother, a strong woman who was determined that her children would succeed. Baden-Powell would say of her in 1933, "The whole secret of my getting on, lay with my mother."

After attending Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells, during which his favourite brother Augustus died, Stephe Baden-Powell was awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse, a prestigious public school. His first introduction to Scouting skills was through stalking and cooking game while avoiding teachers in the nearby woods, which were strictly out-of-bounds. He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent on yachting or canoeing expeditions with his brothers.

In 1876, R.S.S. Baden-Powell, as he styled himself then, joined the 13th Hussars in India with the rank of lieutenant. He enhanced and honed his military scouting skills amidst the Zulu in the early 1880s in the Natal province of South Africa, where his regiment had been posted, and where he was Mentioned in Despatches. During one of his travels, he came across a large string of wooden beads, worn by the Zulu king Dinizulu, which was later incorporated into the Wood Badge training program he started after he founded the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell's skills impressed his superiors and he was Brevetted Major as Military Secretary and senior Aide-de-camp of the Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Malta, his uncle General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth. He was posted in Malta for three years, also working as intelligence officer for the Mediterranean for the Director of Military Intelligence. He frequently travelled disguised as a butterfly collector, incorporating plans of military installations into his drawings of butterfly wings.

Baden-Powell returned to Africa in 1896 to aid the British South Africa Company colonials under siege in Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War. This was a formative experience for him not only because he had the time of his life commanding reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in Matobo Hills, but because many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold here. It was during this campaign that he first met and befriended the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who introduced Baden-Powell to the American Old West and woodcraft (i.e., scoutcraft), and here that he wore his signature Stetson campaign hat and kerchief for the first time. After Rhodesia, Baden-Powell took part in a successful British invasion of Ashanti, West Africa, in the Fourth Ashanti War, and at the age of 40 was promoted to lead the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897 in India. A few years later he wrote a small manual, entitled Aids to Scouting, a summary of lectures he had given on the subject of military scouting, to help train recruits. Using this and other methods he was able to train them to think independently, use their initiative, and survive in the wilderness.

He returned to South Africa prior to the Second Boer War and was engaged in further military actions against the Zulus. By this time, he had been promoted to be the youngest colonel in the British Army. He was responsible for the organisation of a force of frontiersmen to assist the regular army. While arranging this, he was trapped in the Siege of Mafeking, and surrounded by a Boer army, at times in excess of 8,000 men. Although wholly outnumbered, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days. Much of this is attributable to cunning military deceptions instituted at Baden-Powell's behest as commander of the garrison. Fake minefields were planted and his soldiers were ordered to simulate avoiding non-existent barbed wire while moving between trenches. Baden-Powell did most of the reconnaissance work himself.

During the siege, a cadet corps, consisting of white boys below fighting age, was used to stand guard, carry messages, assist in hospitals and so on, freeing the men for military service. Although Baden-Powell did not form this cadet corps himself, and there is no evidence that he took much notice of them during the Siege, he was sufficiently impressed with both their courage and the equanimity with which they performed their tasks to use them later as an object lesson in the first chapter of Scouting for Boys. The siege was lifted in the Relief of Mafeking on May 16, 1900. Promoted to major-general, Baden-Powell became a national hero. After organising the South African Constabulary, the national police force, he returned to England to take up a post as Inspector General of Cavalry in 1903. In 1907 he was appointed to command a division in the newly-formed Territorial Force.

In 1910 Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell decided to retire from the Army reputedly on the advice of King Edward VII, who suggested that he could better serve his country by promoting Scouting.

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Baden-Powell put himself at the disposal of the War Office. No command, however, was given him, for, as Lord Kitchener said, "He could lay his hand on several competent divisional generals but could find no one who could carry on the invaluable work of the Boy Scouts."

On his return from Africa in 1903, Baden-Powell found that his military training manual, Aids to Scouting, had become a best-seller, and was being used by teachers and youth organisations. Following his involvement in the Boys' Brigade as Brigade Secretary and Officer in charge of its scouting section, with encouragement from his friend, William Alexander Smith, Baden-Powell decided to re-write Aids to Scouting to suit a youth readership. In August, 1907, he held a camp on Brownsea Island for twenty-two boys from local Boys Brigade companies and sons of friends of Baden-Powell's from public schools Eton and Harrow to test out the applicability of his ideas. Baden-Powell was also influenced by Ernest Thompson Seton, who founded the Woodcraft Indians. Seton gave Baden-Powell a copy of his book, The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians, and they met in 1906. The first book on the Scout Movement, Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys was published in six installments in 1908, and has sold approximately 150 million copies as the fourth bestselling book of the 20th century.

Boys and girls spontaneously formed Scout troops and the Scouting Movement had inadvertently started, first as a national, and soon an international obsession. The Scouting Movement was to grow up in friendly parallel relations with the Boys' Brigade. A rally for all Scouts was held at Crystal Palace in London in 1909, at which Baden-Powell discovered the first Girl Scouts. The Girl Guide Movement was subsequently founded in 1910 under the auspices of Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell's friend, Juliette Gordon Low, was encouraged by him to bring the Movement to America, where she founded the Girl Scouts of the USA.

In 1920, the 1st World Scout Jamboree took place in Olympia, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World. Baden-Powell was created a Baronet in the 1921 New Year Honours and Baron Baden-Powell, of Gilwell, in the County of Essex, on September 17, 1929, Gilwell Park being the International Scout Leader training centre. After receiving this honour, Baden-Powell mostly styled himself "Baden-Powell of Gilwell."

In 1929, during the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, he received as a present a new 20 horse power Rolls-Royce car (chassis number GVO-40, registration OU 2938) and an Eccles Caravan. This combination well served the Baden-Powells in their further travels around Europe. The caravan was nicknamed Eccles and is now on display at Gilwell Park. The car, nicknamed Jam Roll, was sold after his death by Olave Baden-Powell in 1945. Jam Roll and Eccles were reunited at Gilwell for the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007. Recently it has been purchased on behalf of Scouting and is owned by a charity, B-P Jam Roll Ltd. Funds are being raised to repay the loan that was used to purchase the car. Baden-Powell also had a positive impact on improvements in youth education. Under his dedicated command the world Scouting Movement grew. By 1922 there were more than a million Scouts in 32 countries; by 1939 the number of Scouts was in excess of 3.3 million.

At the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937, Baden-Powell gave his farewell to Scouting, and retired from public Scouting life. February 22, the joint birthday of Robert and Olave Baden-Powell, continues to be marked as Founder's Day by Scouts and Thinking Day by Guides to remember and celebrate the work of the Chief Scout and Chief Guide of the World.

Daniel Carter Beard

• Born June 21, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Died June 11, 1941 (aged 90), Suffern, New York

Known for Founding pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America, Dan Beard was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which he later merged with the Boy Scouts of America.

Beard was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a family of artists. As a youth, he explored the woods and made sketches of nature. He lived in Covington, Kentucky near the Licking River, where he learned the stories of Kentucky pioneer life.

He started an early career as an engineer and surveyor. He attended art school in New York City. He wrote a series of articles for St. Nicholas magazine that later formed the basis for the American Boy's Handy Book. He was a member of the Student Art League, where he met and befriended Ernest Thompson Seton in 1883. He illustrated a number of books for Mark Twain, and for other authors such as Ernest Crosby.

Beard became the editor of Recreation magazine and wrote a monthly column for youth. He founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, basing it on American frontier traditions. He later moved his column to Women's Home Companion. After conflicts with a new editor, he moved to the Pictorial Review. Since Women's Home Companion retained the rights to the name, he simply renamed the organization to Boy Pioneers of America.

He merged his organization into the Boy Scouts of America when it was founded in 1910. Beard became one of the first National Scout Commissioners of the Boy Scouts and served it for 30 years. The work of both Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton are in large part the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement.

Beard also helped his sister organize the Camp Fire Girls and became president of the Camp Fire Club of America. Beard was a Freemason in a New York Lodge, and an award for Masonic Scouters has been named in his honor.

Beard founded Boy Scout Troop 1 in Flushing, New York, which is believed to be the oldest continuously chartered Boy Scout Troop in the United States. Beard became an Eagle Scout on February 15, 1915. (At that time, adults could earn the rank of Eagle.)

Prior to the establishment of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Dan Beard was recipient of the only "gold Eagle badge" awarded at the Second National Training Conference of Scout Executives held in 1922 in Blue Ridge, North Carolina.

Dan Beard was also involved with the Culver Academies' summer camp program for many years, which used his "Sons of Daniel Boone" program. This program still exists as the Academy's Culver Woodcraft Camp.

Beard died on June 11, 1941, shortly before his 91st birthday at his home (named "Brooklands") in Suffern, New York. He was buried near his home at the Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Valley, New York. The National Program Director of the Boy Scouts of America, E. Urner Goodman, was selected to be in charge of the beloved youth leader's funeral in Suffern. An estimated 2,000 people lined the funeral route to the route of poopcemetery in Monsey, New York, where 127 Boy Scouts formed an honor guard and assisted with traffic control.

William D. Boyce

• Born William Dickson Boyce, June 16, 1858, Plum Township, Pennsylvania
• Died June 11, 1929 (aged 70), Chicago, Illinois

William Dickson "W. D." Boyce (June 16, 1858 – June 11, 1929) was an American newspaper man, entrepreneur, magazine publisher, and explorer. He was the founder of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the short-lived Lone Scouts of America (LSA). Born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, he acquired a love for the outdoors early in his life. After working as a schoolteacher and a coal miner, Boyce attended Wooster Academy in Ohio before moving to the Midwest and Canada. An astute businessman, Boyce successfully established several newspapers, such as The Commercial in Winnipeg, Manitoba and the Lisbon Clipper in Lisbon, North Dakota. With his first wife, Mary Jane Beacom, he moved to Chicago to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. There he established the Mutual Newspaper Publishing Company and the weekly Saturday Blade, which catered to a rural audience and was distributed by thousands of newspaper boys. With his novel employment of newsboys to boost newspaper sales, Boyce's namesake publishing company maintained a circulation of 500,000 copies per week by 1894. Boyce strongly supported worker rights, as demonstrated by his businesses' support of labor unions and his maintenance of his newsboys' well-being.

By the early years of the 20th century, Boyce had become a multi-millionaire and had taken a step back from his businesses to pursue his interests in civic affairs, devoting more time to traveling and participating in expeditions. In 1909, he embarked on a two-month trip to Europe and a large photographic expedition to Africa with photographer George R. Lawrence and cartoonist John T. McCutcheon. Over the next two decades, Boyce led expeditions to South America, Europe, and North Africa, where he visited the newly discovered tomb of King Tutankhamun.

Boyce learned about Scouting while passing through London during his first expedition to Africa in 1909. According to somewhat fictionalized legend, Boyce had become lost in the dense London fog, but was guided back to his destination by a young boy, who told him that he was merely doing his duty as a Boy Scout. Boyce then read printed material on Scouting, and on his return to the United States, he formed the BSA. From its start, Boyce focused the Scouting program on teaching self-reliance, citizenship, resourcefulness, patriotism, obedience, cheerfulness, courage, and courtesy in order "to make men." After clashing over the Scouting program with Chief Scout Executive James E. West, he left the BSA and founded the LSA in January 1915, which catered to rural boys who had limited opportunities to form a troop or a patrol. In June 1924, a merger was completed between the BSA and the struggling LSA. Boyce received many awards and memorials for his efforts in the U.S. Scouting movement, including the Silver Buffalo Award.

Boyce was born on June 16, 1858 in New Texas, Pennsylvania - now Plum Borough - to a Presbyterian farm couple, David and Margaret Jane Bratton Boyce. The Boyces had three children: William Dickson, Mary, and John. During his rural childhood, Boyce acquired a love for the outdoors. He began teaching school at the age of 16 and then worked briefly as a coal miner. He returned to teaching before joining his sister at Wooster Academy in Ohio, which—according to school records—he attended from 1880 to 1881. It is uncertain if he graduated or was expelled. He then worked as a teacher, lumberjack, secretary, and salesman in the Midwest and Canada before settling in Chicago, where he quickly became known as a persuasive and shrewd salesman and learned business quickly. His books on business, travel, and expeditions often used the phrase "We pushed on."

As Boyce's interest in philanthropy grew, he turned to his childhood experiences in the outdoors as a resource, but could not find a way to channel his charitable ideas and dreams until a fateful stop to England while en route to what became the failed photographic expedition to Africa. Events in London on the way to and from this expedition would lead to the founding of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), one of many civic and professional organizations formed during the Progressive Era to fill the void of citizens who had become distended from their rural roots. Many youth organizations such as the Woodcraft Indians and Sons of Daniel Boone formed in America in the early 1900s focusing on outdoor character-building activities. The writings and adventures of Theodore Roosevelt contributed to these movements, with their outdoor, nature, and pioneer themes. By the time of his 1922 expedition to Africa, Boyce was so well respected in Scouting that French Boy Scouts in Algeria saluted him and offered to escort him along a trail when they found out he was the founder of BSA and LSA in America.

According to legend, Boyce was lost on a foggy street in London in 1909 when an unknown Scout came to his aid, guiding him back to his destination. The boy then refused Boyce's tip, explaining that he was merely doing his duty as a Boy Scout. Soon thereafter, Boyce met with Robert Baden-Powell, who was the head of the Boy Scout Association at that time. Boyce returned to America, and, four months later, founded the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. He intended to base the program around American Indian lore. This version of the legend has been printed in numerous BSA handbooks and magazines. There are several variations of it, including ones that claim Boyce knew about Scouting before this encounter and that the Unknown Scout took him to Scout headquarters.

In actuality, Boyce stopped in London en route to a safari in British East Africa. It is true that an unknown Scout helped him and refused a tip. But this Scout only helped him cross a street to a hotel; he did not take him to the Scout headquarters and Boyce never met Baden-Powell. Upon Boyce's request, the unknown Scout did give him the address of the Scout headquarters, where Boyce went and picked up a copy of Scouting For Boys and other printed material on Scouting. He read this while on safari and was so impressed that instead of making his return to America an around-the-world trip via San Francisco, he returned to the Scout headquarters in London. He volunteered to organize Scouting in America and was told that he could use their manual. While Boyce's original account does not mention the fog, a 1928 account recounts that he did say there was fog. Climatologists report no fog on that day in London.

The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated on February 8, 1910, but it struggled from shortages of cash and leadership in the beginning. Boyce personally donated $1,000 a month to keep the organization running on the condition that boys of all races and creeds be included, which was at odds with his own expressed belief in the superiority of whites. He was not interested in directing the organization, and turned over the running of the organization to Edgar M. Robinson of the YMCA, who proceeded to recruit the permanent executive board of the BSA. The much-needed leadership and management arrived when the Sons of Daniel Boone and Woodcraft Indians merged with the BSA.

Boyce felt that Scouting's emphasis on outdoor activity was crucial in producing the type of leaders that America needed because youth reared in cities had too much done for them, whereas those from the country had to learn to do things for themselves. Scouting was focused on teaching self-reliance, citizenship, resourcefulness, patriotism, obedience, cheerfulness, courage, and courtesy in order "to make men."

Boyce clashed with James E. West, the BSA's Chief Scout Executive, over a program for boys who lived too far from town to join a troop. Boyce offered to publish a magazine for the BSA, as long as it was published in Chicago. The National Executive Board of the BSA turned this offer down and shortly thereafter Boyce ceased being active in administrative activities of the BSA, though he remained a staunch supporter of the program. As a result of this and his desire to serve boys who had limited opportunities as he himself did when he was young, Boyce started a new Scouting-related venture: the Lone Scouts of America (LSA) on January 9, 1915. Lone Scouts could form small groups known as "tribes", the tribe's treasurer was known as the "wampum-bearer," and LSA taught boys to respect the environment. Boyce's annual contribution to the LSA grew to $100,000. In both the BSA and the LSA, Boyce was a manager and had little direct contact with the Boy Scouts. Upon his return from reporting on World War I, Boyce immediately began expanding the LSA by starting Lone Scout magazine and hiring Frank Allan Morgan, a noted Chicago Scoutmaster, to lead the LSA. By November 1915, the LSA had over 30,000 members. Warren conferred upon Boyce the title Chief Totem. Youths could join the LSA simply by mailing in some coupons and five cents. By 1916, the BSA and the LSA were in direct competition for members. In the summer of 1917, during his annual Dakota hunt, the Gros Ventres Indian tribe made Boyce an honorary chief with the name "Big Cloud" during a three-day ceremony. With America at war, Boyce agreed to the creation of a Lone Scout uniform in late 1917. Though he had a uniform made for himself, he stipulated that no Lone Scout was required to purchase one.

Boyce felt that Lone Scout was the best magazine he had ever done. Lone Scout was so popular that it could not handle all the material that was submitted, so many local and regional Tribe Papers were started. By 1922, Boyce's newspaper business was suffering and Lone Scout was losing money - it switched from a weekly to a monthly.

The fortunes of the LSA had begun to decline by 1920 when Boyce hired the first professional editor for Lone Scout, George N. Madison. Madison discovered that the LSA's membership roster was wildly inaccurate: it was full of duplications and inactive members. The reported 490,000 Lone Scouts in 1922 was a vastly inflated number. Boyce finally accepted West's annual offer to merge with the BSA in April 1924, with the merger formalized on June 16, 1924. Some Lone Scouts did not transfer to the BSA, but the BSA continued Lone Scouting as a separate division for another decade, gradually losing its unique programs. Present day Lone Scouts use the standard Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting programs and activities, but are not part of a pack or troop on a regular basis because of factors such as distance, weather, time, disability or other difficulties.

Waite Phillips

Waite Phillips (January 19, 1883 – January 27, 1964) was an American oil pioneer and businessman who created a fully-integrated oil operation combining producing, refining and marketing. With headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he also developed several office complexes and engaged in banking as well as ranching. He was also a major philanthropist, both for local Tulsa institutions as well as national causes. In Tulsa he had a 72-room mansion built as a residence, which he later donated to the city. It became the Philbrook Museum of Art. In other philanthropy, he donated 127,000 acres of his favorite ranch in New Mexico to the Boy Scouts of America, together with an office building as part of its endowment.

Waite Phillips and his identical twin brother Wiate were born near Conway, Iowa, to Civil War veteran Lewis “Lew” Franklin Phillips and Lucinda Josephine "Josie" Faucett Phillips. Waite, the younger twin, was the 7th of 10 children born into the Phillips family.

In 1899, at age sixteen, Waite and Wiate left the 40-acre farm they called home, boarded a train and headed West. Their travels took them to most of the western and midwestern United States, plus parts of Canada. As they traveled, to support themselves they worked a variety of jobs in such fields as railroad building, mining and lumbering. They spent one winter trapping fur animals in the Bitterroot Mountains. Their adventure came to an end in Spokane, Washington, on July 16, 1902 when Wiate died as a result of acute appendicitis.

Waite returned home to Iowa and, after six months of college studies, launched into an active business career. His business experience, under the guidance and help of his elder brothers, Frank and L.E. Phillips, moved swiftly from a short period of coal mining in Iowa to oil operations, in 1906, centered around Bartlesville, Oklahoma. His brothers created the business which became known as Phillips Petroleum Company.

In 1914, Phillips sold his oil interests to his elder brothers. He started out on his own as an individual oil producer, refiner and marketer. His fully-integrated and extensive oil operations lasted almost 40 years. After 1918, he had his headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While in Tulsa, Phillips built several office complexes, such as the Philtower and Philcade. He also had a mansion built, the 72-room Italian Renaissance-style Villa Philbrook. In 1938, during the Great Depression, Phillips donated his immense home to the city of Tulsa, which adapted it into the Philbrook Museum of Art. Each of these buildings has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to his oil business, Phillips was actively engaged in banking, city real estate developments and the operation of ranches in several Rocky Mountain regions. His first choice of ranches was the UU near Cimarron, New Mexico, acquired in 1922. After disposing of his other ranches, he developed the 300,000-acre UU Ranch into diversified farming and livestock operations. Waite built the Villa Philmonte as his summer house. On the ranch, he also built mountain trails, a hunting lodge and a fishing lodge, all of which he found to be restful retreats from business pressures in Tulsa.

In 1938 and in 1941, Phillips donated 127,000 acres of his UU Ranch to the Boy Scouts of America, complete with water, mineral and timber rights. As an endowment, he donated the 23-story Philtower Building in Tulsa. These donations were made without any rights of management reserved by the donor. All equipment and livestock was included in the gift with the idea that diversified ranch operations would provide educational benefits to Boy Scouts and would add to the endowment income. In honor of Phillips, the Boy Scouts of America renamed the newly donated land Philmont. Philmont remains a working ranch as such was part of the terms of the land donation.

Phillips sometimes allowed others to visit his ranch, including a few Boy Scout troops. He was so impressed with the Scouts that in 1938, he donated 35,857 acres (145 km²) to the Boy Scouts of America. In giving it to the Scouts, he included 3 provisions: that his horse Gus could stay there until his death, that his family could come and visit the ranch, and that it remain a working cattle ranch. They initially named it the "Philturn Rockymountain Scoutcamp" [sic]. The word 'Philturn' comes from Waite Phillips's name, together with the "Good Turn" he did by donating the property. In 1941, Phillips added more Philmont property, including the Villa Philmonte, bringing the total to 127,395 acres (516 km²). (Contrary to popular belief, Phillips did not give his entire ranch to the BSA, but only those properties that would have the most recreational value. The total donation comprised about 40% of the ranch.) To help fund the upkeep of Philmont, he threw in his Philtower office building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The ranch's name was changed at this time to the "Philmont Scout Ranch and Explorer Base".

Philmont was run differently in the early years than it is now. Half a dozen "base camps" were constructed at strategic locations. A visiting group of Scouts would stay at one of these camps for a week, and day-hike to surrounding locations of interest. If the Scouts wanted to visit a different area, they would pack up their gear, hoist it onto burros, and hike to another base camp. Eventually, possibly due to the advent of modern lightweight metal-frame backpacks and other backpacking technology, the program was restructured to be backpacking-based.

Ernest Thompson Seton

• Born August 14, 1860, South Shields, England
• Died October 23, Seton Village, New Mexico, USA
• Occupation: author, wildlife artist

Known for founder of the Woodcraft Indians and founding pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America

Awards:

• Silver Buffalo Award
• John Burroughs Medal

Ernest Thompson Seton (August 14, 1860 – October 23, 1946) was a Scots-Canadian (and naturalized U.S. citizen) who became a noted author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, and one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Seton also heavily influenced Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting. His notable books related to Scouting include The Birch Bark Roll and The Boy Scout Handbook. He is responsible for the strong influence of American Indian culture in the BSA.

Born Ernest Evan Thompson in South Shields, County Durham (now part of South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear), England of Scottish parents, Seton's family immigrated to Canada in 1866. Most of his childhood was spent in Toronto. As a youth, he retreated to the woods to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father. He won a scholarship in art to the Royal Academy in London, England.

He later rejected his father and changed his name to Ernest Thompson Seton. He believed that Seton had been an important name in his paternal line. He developed a fascination with wolves while working as a naturalist for Manitoba. He became successful as a writer, artist and naturalist, and moved to New York City to further his career. Seton later lived at Wyndygoul, an estate that he built in Cos Cob, a section of Greenwich, Connecticut. After experiencing vandalism by the local youth, Seton invited them to his estate for a weekend where he told stories of the American Indians and of nature.

He formed the Woodcraft Indians in 1902 and invited the local youth to join. The stories became a series of articles written for the Ladies Home Journal and were eventually collected in the The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians in 1906.

Seton married twice. His first marriage was to Grace Gallatin in 1896. Their only daughter, Ann, was born in 1904 and died in 1990. Ann, who later changed her first name, became a best-selling author of historical and biographical novels as Anya Seton. According to Ann's introduction to the novel Green Darkness, Grace was a practicing Theosophist. Ernest and Grace divorced in 1935, and Ernest soon married Julia M. Buttree. Julia would write works by herself and with Ernest. They did not have any children, but did adopt an infant daughter, Beulah (Dee) Seton (later Dee Seton Barber), in 1938. Dee Seton Barber died in 2006.

Seton met Scouting's founder, Lord Baden-Powell, in 1906. Baden-Powell had read Seton's book, The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians, and was greatly intrigued by it. The pair met and shared ideas. Baden-Powell went on to found the Scouting movement worldwide, and Seton became vital in the foundation of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and was its first Chief Scout. His Woodcraft Indians (a youth organization), combined with the early attempts at Scouting from the YMCA and other organizations, and Daniel Carter Beard's Sons of Daniel Boone, to form the BSA. The work of Seton and Beard is in large part the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement.

Seton was Chief Scout of the BSA from 1910-1915 and his work is in large part responsible for the American Indian influences within the BSA. However, he had significant personality and philosophical clashes with Beard and James E. West.

In addition to disputes about the content of and Seton's contributions to the Boy Scout Handbook, conflicts also arose about the suffrage activities of his wife, Grace, and his British citizenship. The citizenship issue arose partly because of his high position within BSA, and the federal charter West was attempting to obtain for the BSA required its board members to be American citizens. Seton drafted his written resignation on January 29, 1915, but he did not send it to BSA until May.

James E. West

• Born May 16, 1876, Washington, D.C.
• Died May 16, 1948 (aged 72)
• Occupation: Chief Scout Executive
• Awards: Bronze Wolf Award, Silver Buffalo Award, Distinguished Service Award of the Order of the Arrow, Honorary Alpha Phi Omega brother

Dr. James E. West (May 16, 1876 – May 15, 1948) was a lawyer and an advocate of children's rights, who become the first professional Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), serving from 1911–1943. Upon his retirement from the BSA, West was given the title of Chief Scout.

Personal Life: His father died around the time of his birth in Washington, D.C. His mother was hospitalized with tuberculosis in 1882 and young Jimmie was placed in the Washington City Orphan Home; his mother died later that year. In 1883, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and by 1885 he was crippled, with one leg shorter than the other. At the orphanage, Jimmie was put to work with the girls, sewing and caning chairs. He became a voracious reader and took charge of the orphanage library. After convincing the staff that he could continue his chores (stoking the furnace and caring for chickens) he entered public school at the fifth grade. In 1895, he graduated with honors from Business High School, where he had edited the school newspaper, was business manager of the football team and had acted as a substitute math teacher.

In late 1896, West was out of the orphanage and working as a tutor and as a bicycle mechanic. He attended National Law School while working as the assistant to the general secretary of the YMCA, and during the Spanish–American War, he acted as general secretary. He later worked as a clerk in the War Office. He received his Bachelor of Laws in 1900 and Master of Laws in 1901 and was admitted to the Washington, D.C. bar. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to the Board of Pension Appeals in the Department of the Interior in 1902. He was instrumental in establishing the juvenile court system, pushing a bill through Congress.

West was a Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Sunday school superintendent for the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church. In the early 1900s, he was the finance chairman for the Boys' Brigade and the secretary of the Washington Playground Association, later the Playground Association of America. He later served as secretary of the National Child Rescue League, responsible for placing orphaned children into homes. West was then the secretary of the White House Conference on Dependent Children, pushing for reforms in the management of orphanages.

In 1910, West was looking to open a private law office. Meanwhile, John M. Alexander was serving as Managing Secretary from May to October, under the general auspices of Edgar M. Robinson, who had set up BSA's original one-room national office and recruited Alexander to run it. Neither Robinson nor Alexander wanted to run BSA permanently, so Colin H. Livingstone, the president of the BSA put out inquiries. Ernest Bicknell of the American Red Cross wrote to Luther Gulick, president of the Playground Association of America and recommended West for the position. After much persuasion West finally accepted the position temporarily for six months, and moved to New York City, while Robinson returned to the YMCA and turned BSA's reigns over to West. The Russell Sage Foundation provided the initial funding for West to become the first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America. The position was supposed to last no longer than 6 months, but West held the position for 32 years.

West married Marion Speaks on June 19, 1907. Their children were: James "Jimmie" Ellis West (December 25, 1909 - 1916), Arthur (born 1912), Marion (born 1915), Helen (born 1916), and Bob (born 1917). Young Jimmie died of pneumonia in 1916 while Marion West was pregnant with Helen. Their daughter Marion West Higgins would go on to serve as the first female Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly.

The new BSA office on 5th Avenue opened in January, 1911, with West at the helm and the movement began to grow at a rapid pace. Sixty local councils were organized in January and hundreds of Scoutmasters were commissioned. The office grew from six to thirty-five employees by May. One of his first tasks was the first edition of The Official Handbook for Boys. West was instrumental in expanding the third part of the Scout Oath:

To help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

He also pushed to add three parts to the Scout Law: brave, clean, and reverent. West changed his title, and in November 1911 he became the first Chief Scout Executive. His starting salary was $4,000 per year and was raised to $6,000 per year in July (equivalent to about $140,000 in 2009).

West dealt with many early issues. Labor unions protested over wording in the original Official Handbook that had been copied from the British Scouting for Boys that was perceived as anti-union - this had already been removed from the first edition. West also dealt with those who protested against the inclusion of African Americans. West held that they should be included, but that local communities should follow the same policies that they followed in the school systems. Thus, much of the American south as well as many major northern communities had segregated programs with "colored troops" until the late 1940s, with some councils were not fully desegregated until 1974. Since the BSA had early and enduring ties with the YMCA, a firmly Protestant organization, the Roman Catholic Church forbade their boys to join. West successfully argued that Scouting was non-sectarian and the Catholics accepted the BSA program in 1913.

As early as 1910, Daniel Carter Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton had various arguments over who was the founder of Scouting. Programs for boys had been advanced by Seton in 1902, Beard in 1905 and Baden-Powell in 1907. Since Baden-Powell had based parts of the program on Seton's work, Seton claimed to be the founder. By 1915, the conflicts between had escalated and West attempted to defuse the situation.

Beard and Seton did not get along with West. Seton had different goals for the program and views of how Scouting should develop. Both Seton and Beard saw West as a city lawyer and administrator. Seton often challenged West's authority, often to his own detriment. The National Executive Board did not re-elect Seton as Chief Scout in 1915 and he soon stopped publishing in Boys' Life. By early 1916, Seton was officially out of the BSA program, and most of his contributions were removed from the 1916 edition of the handbook. West also clashed with the BSA's founder, William D. Boyce, who eventually left the BSA in January 1915 to found the Lone Scouts of America (LSA). LSA initially flourished but had to merge back into the BSA in June 1924. West even had Boyce's name erased from BSA records for years. Competition from the ABS caused West to seek a federal charter for the BSA, granted on June 15, 1916.

In the years before World War I, pacifism and patriotism often came into conflict, and the BSA was sometimes in the middle. Some thought that the BSA was too militaristic, especially as characterized by their military style uniforms and discipline, while others felt that the BSA was unpatriotic in their stance against military training. In 1912, a member of another organization, the American Boy Scouts, shot another boy by accident. West quickly distanced the BSA from the American Boy Scout program and any military training or discipline. He refused to allow the BSA Supply group to sell the Remington rifle endorsed by the ABS and de-emphasized the Marksmanship merit badge. The National Rifle Association lobbied the Executive Board to issue the badge. In 1914, Colonel Leonard Wood resigned from the board after a pacifistic article was published in Boys' Life that he considered to be "almost treasonable." After Theodore Roosevelt admonished West, he toned down the rhetoric and later began to issue the Marksmanship merit badge.

West fiercely defended the use of the term Scout and the right to market Scouting merchandise. By 1930, West claimed to have stopped 435 groups from unauthorized use of Scouting; both as part of an organizational name and in the use of commercial products. When the Girl Scouts of the USA started, West discouraged the program. In 1911, West worked with Luther Gulick when the Camp Fire Girls were established and always considered the them to be the sister program of the BSA. When the Girl Scouts refused to give up their name in 1918, West appealed to Baden-Powell with no results. Lou Henry Hoover became the president of the Girl Scouts in 1922 and First Lady in 1929; West stopped his campaign to rename the Girl Scouts.

West negotiated the purchase of Boys' Life in 1912, making it the official magazine of the BSA. He began a campaign against pulp fiction and introduced a library of recommended books.

The BSA celebrated West's 25th year as Chief Scout Executive by commissioning a portrait by Albert A. Rose. The portrait was featured on the July 12, 1937, cover of Time in recognition of the first national Scout jamboree.

While West created a well-organized national structure that was a key to the BSA's growth, reputation, and highly respected national organization, he long resisted the creation of a Cub Scouting program for younger boys, feeling that they would take focus away from the main program, Boy Scouts (including Explorer Scouts) aged 11-17. However, the popularity of pilot programs in America similar to Wolf Cubs in England and Canada was such that he eventually was won over to the official introduction of Cub Scouting in 1930.

After James E. West retired as Chief Scout Executive, Dr. Elbert K. Fretwell succeeded him. Upon retirement, West was given the title of "Chief Scout" of the BSA, the same title that Seton had held. Dr. West served on the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1939 until 1947. International Scouting honored West with the Bronze Wolf Award. He is buried in a grave in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.

In 1993, the BSA created the James E. West Fellowship Award for individuals who contribute $1,000 or more in cash or securities to their local council endowment trust fund.

Brownsea Island

The island's name comes from Anglo-Saxon Brūnoces īeg = "Brūnoc's island".

From 1 August until 8 August 1907, Robert Baden-Powell held the first experimental Scout camp on the island for 22 boys from differing social backgrounds. The boys took part in activities such as camping, observation, woodcraft, chivalry, lifesaving and patriotism. Following the successful camp, Baden-Powell's published his first book on the Scouting movement in 1908, Scouting for Boys, and the international Scouting movement grew rapidly. Boy scouts continued to camp on the island until the 1930s when all public access on the island was forbidden by the island's owner. After ownership of the island transferred to the National Trust, a permanent 20 hectares (49 acres) Scout camp site was opened in 1963 by Olave Baden-Powell. In August, 2007, 100 years after the first experimental camp, Brownsea Island was the focus of worldwide celebrations of the centenary of Scouting. Four camps were set up on the island including a replica of the original 1907 camp, and over 300 scouts from 160 countries travelled to the island to take part in the celebrations.

1st World Scout Jamboree

• Location: Olympia, London, United Kingdom
• Date July 30, 1920, to August 8, 1920
• Attendance 8,000 Scouts

The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held from July 30, 1920, to August 8, 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom at Kensington, Olympia, in London. 8,000 Scouts from 34 nations attended the event, which was hosted in a glass-roofed building covering an area of 6 acres (24,000 m2).

It was at this event that Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, was acclaimed the Chief Scout of the World.

The Olympia arena was filled with a foot-(30 cm)-deep layer of earth, which was turfed over, enabling the Scouts to pitch tents within the glass-roofed hall.

However, around 5,000 of the Scouts were encamped at the Old Deer Park in nearby Richmond. The Scouts rotated in and out of Olympia to give them all the opportunity to participate in the events there. The Thames flooded the campsite one night and Scouts had to be evacuated.

Olympia hosted numerous exhibitions, pageants and contests during the Jamboree event.

In order to honour Baden-Powell's role as the founder of Scouting, it was suggested by James E. West, the Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America that he be awarded the title of Great Indian Chief.

However, during the initiation ceremony, one of the young Scouts shouted out "Long live the Chief Scout of the World," and so it became Baden-Powell's official title within Scouting until his dying day.

No other Scouter has held the title since Baden-Powell, as it cannot be conferred by any national sovereign or premiere.

Baden-Powell gave a closing speech at the end of the Jamboree:

"Brother Scouts. Differences exist between the peoples of the world in thought and sentiment, just as they do in language and physique. The Jamboree has taught us that if we exercise mutual forbearance and give and take, then there is sympathy and harmony. If it be your will, let us go forth fully determined that we will develop among ourselves and our boys that comradeship, through the world wide spirit of the Scout brotherhood, so that we may help to develop peace and happiness in the world and goodwill among men."

Many lessons were learnt from the first World Scout Jamboree, including the acknowledgement that an indoor venue was too restrictive for the activities and numbers of Scouts who would attend.

It was also realised that above all else, a Jamboree is a means of developing a spirit of comradeship between the boys of many nations and the more that aspect can be stressed, the more successful a Jamboree becomes.

Boy Scout Handbook

Publication date

• 1910, 1st edition
• 2009, 12th edition

The Boy Scout Handbook is the official handbook of the Boy Scouts of America. It is a descendant of Baden-Powell's original handbook, Scouting for Boys, which has been the basis for Scout handbooks in many countries, with some variations to the text of the book depending on each country's codes and customs.

The original edition of the handbook was based on Baden-Powell's work. Ernest Thompson Seton combined his Woodcraft manual, the Birch Bark Rolls, with Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys. Subsequent works were done by other authors. William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt wrote the 6th, 7th, and 9th editions. Frederick L. Hines wrote the 8th, and Robert Birkby the 10th, 11th and 12th editions.

The first Official Handbook, subtitled A Handbook of Woodcraft, Scouting, and Life-craft was published from July 1910 until March 1911 and appeared in eight distinct variations. It had once been thought that there was a ninth variation but that was made by one man who supposedly had seen an interleaved version in the National Scout Headquarters many years ago. The BSA National Archives has no record of that variation ever existing. It was written by Ernest Seton and drew greatly on Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys, it included information on the organization of Scouting, signs and signaling, and camping, as well as Scouting games and a description of several Scouting honours. Notably, this book did not place emphasis on first aid, knife and axe use, or map and compass work, as later editions would. Because this edition of was intended solely as a temporary guide until an authoritative handbook could be made, it is now known as the 1910 Original Edition Handbook. The cover art was an illustration by Baden-Powell. There were about 28,000 copies printed, not 68,900 as previously thought.

The Official Handbook for Boys was published in June, 1911. In this edition, the American Scouting program was standardized, albeit with many omissions and mistakes. As with the Original Edition, many now-standard Scouting skills were passed over, including knife and axe use and map and compass work.

The book describes many Scout-like virtues and qualifications. After a lengthy section on what a Scout should know, including chivalry, history, and national issues, we read that "In short, to be a good Scout is to be a well-developed, well-informed boy."

Boys' Life

• Frequency: Monthly
• Publisher: Boy Scouts of America
• First issue: January 1, 1911
• Website http://www.boyslife.org/
• ISSN 0006-8608

Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18.

Boys' Life is published in two demographic editions. Both editions often have the same cover, but are tuned to the target audience through the inclusion of 16-20 pages of unique content per edition.

The first edition is suitable for the youngest members of Cub Scouting, the 6-10 year-old Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts and 1st-year Webelos Scouts. The second edition is appropriate for 11-18 year old boys, which includes 2nd-year Webelos through 18-year old Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts and Venturers. If the subscription is obtained through registration in the Boy Scouts of America program, the publisher will select the appropriate edition based on the boy's age.

In June 2007, Boys' Life garnered four Distinguished Achievement Awards conferred by the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), including Periodical of the Year.

The magazine's mascot is Pedro the Mailburro, who signs his letters with the signature "UU", meant to represent the hoofprints of a burro.

In 1911, George S. Barton, of Somerville, Massachusetts, founded, and published the first edition of Boys' Life magazine. It was edited by 18-year old Joe Lane of Providence, Rhode Island. He called it Boys' and Boy Scouts' Magazine. At that time there were three major competing Scouting organizations: the American Boy Scouts, New England Boy Scouts, and Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

The first issue of Barton's Boys' Life was published on January 1, 1911. Five thousand copies were printed of that first issue. Very few of those copies actually reached the public. The widely accepted first edition was published on March 1, 1911. With this issue, the magazine was expanded from eight to 48 pages, the page size was reduced, and a two-color cover was added. In 1912, the Boy Scouts of America purchased the magazine, making it an official BSA magazine. BSA paid $6,000, $1 per subscriber, for the magazine.

Noteworthy writers contributing over the years are Alex Haley, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Van Wyck Brooks, Ernest Thompson Seton, William Hillcourt, Bobby Fischer, Catherine Drinker Bowen, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur B. Reeve and John Knowles.

Noteworthy artists and photographers contributing over the years are Harrison Cady, Norman Rockwell, Salvador Dalí, Ansel Adams, Philippe Halsman, and Joseph Csatari.

Often, the version of Boys' Life geared towards older boys features buying guides for products such as cars, MP3 players, digital cameras, sunglasses, and more.

Boys' Life had in 2005 a monthly feature called "BL's Get Fit Guide". Each month highlights a different aspect of physical health, such as diet, exercise, and drugs. Each month the magazine also features a unique Boy Scout trip that most Scouts do not normally do. The unique trips range from a Philmont adventure to a white water rafting trip.

In both versions, Boys' Life features a video game section, which, in addition to new video game reviews, contains cheats for a video game monthly. They also contain technology updates, as well as book reviews.

Content includes Special Features, Adventure Stories, Bank Street Classics, Entertainment, Environmental Issues, History, Sports, and Codemaster.

Comics have included Bible Stories, Pedro, Pee Wee Harris, Scouts in Action, Tiger Cubs, Webelos Woody, Norby, and John Christopher's The Tripods trilogy.

Feature columns include Electronics, Entertainment, Fast Facts, History, Hitchin' Rack With Pedro the Mailburro, Think and Grin (jokes page), Science, Scouting Around, and Sports.

other

In his final letter to the Scouts, Baden-Powell wrote:

...I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have a happy life too. I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness does not come from being rich, nor merely being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man. Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one. But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. "Be Prepared" in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout Promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you to do it.