Ahh the power of the internet. I was recently adding in several hundred camp patches to our shopping cart. Camp patches are a great area of collecting in our hobby. They are part of the foundation of Scouting; the fun ‘means’ to the ‘ends’ of citizenship development. Part of the fun, and frustration, with collecting camp patches is the identification of particularly early pieces.

Amongst the items we have was the following patch:

Well as coincidence would have it, this patch just appeared on eBay. The seller provided the following information that sounds authoratative and accurate:

1951 Camp Chawanakee felt Chief patch never used. This felt was used at other camps in Califormia and other in the USA as well. Hard to find and was used from 1951-1953. Camp Chawanakee is a camp at Shaver Lake in Fresno California.

Here’s the Hunter patch:

Here’s the Warrior patch:

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We were looking up some information and came across Kevin Rudesill’s web-site on great Washington state Scout camp patches. Kevin’s a long time customer and fellow enthusiast with a real passion for items from the Pacific northwest, especially Washington state. His site, Best of the Best Washington Camp Patches and Histories, is really worth a look.

A few years back I picked up the following Washington state patches, at the time I believe were unknown:

The patches, although great, were not as interesting the notes that came from the seller:

Camp Cleland was a Scout camp for the Tumwater Council, headquartered in Olympia, Washington from 1927 to 1941. My father was a professional Scout Exectuive, and his first assignment was to this council in 1934. The badges were his.

Camp Cleland was a hike-in camp, accissible only via a very steep two mile trail. It was on land that had been loged and then acquired by the Scouts, but trees grow fast there and it soon became a pleasant spot that included Lake Lena. This area is now a popular hiking area in Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest. I can’t determine the exact site of the camp (it is complicated by the existence of a Lake Lena and an Upper Lake Lena) but I do know that there is a marker at the site commemorating an outstanding Scout who died in World War II. Reunions of people who had gone to Camp Cleland were held for years, and one of those groups placed the marker.

She also enclosed copies of some black and white photo’s from the camp. I’ll see if I can’t get them scanned in too.

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The title is probably mis-leading. This is not about OA lodge jacket patches but OA lodge patch jackets. Yes, there are such things. I recently added one to my collection which already may well be the largest in the country. Now I have four.

Here’s the newest addition. Its from Lodge 110 Michigamea with their rare 1969 NOAC contingent patch on it.

Others that are in this “world’s largest” collection is one from Katinonkwat Lodge 93 out of Ohio:

Lodge 139 Ah-tic from Pennsylvania:

And one from Ahtuquoag Lodge 540:

What is nice about the 110 and the 540 is that they are dated.

Finding out what is even out there is a problem. I had one from Seminole lodge 85 that I let go to a friend of mine who is from that lodge. Other than that, I’ve not seen many. What can you report as existing? My guess is most of these were for contingents or lodge leaders. Probably most were locally made at local sporting goods stores that could do chain stitch embroidery for varsity letter jackets. They generally appear to be from the 1960s. There must be some more after that although I am not interested in ones that are just a patch sewn on a jacket. They need to have some sort of ‘embellishment’ to qualify.

As an addendum - this ‘collection’ isn’t just limited to OA jackets. Another interesting one is one from Camp Betz of Pokagon Trails Council in Indiana. I don’t know the year but its felt on felt. Probably from the late 1950s.

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A red and white air base strip surfaced that I was not familiar with from Morocco. It was the youth military base strip for the person selling it so I asked him if he could share his remembrances from Scouting in Transatlantic Council in the 1950s.

Here’s what he had to say:

Roy,

My dad served in the US Navy in WWII, but he went to Morocco in 1951 as a civilian working for the contractors building the air bases.  In 1953 when the bases were completed, he went to work for the Air Force as a DOD civilian.

My first experience in scouting was as a French cub scout.  We lived in Marrakech at the time, and did not have access to the American scout program at the air base which was about twenty miles away.

I was a French cub scout from 1952 to 1953.  In joined the Boy Scouts of America in 1956 when we moved on-base (Nouasseur AFB).  Prior to that we lived on the local economy as we were not entitled to on-base housing as civilians.  That changed in 1956 due to increasing violence between the French and Moroccans (sounds familiar, doesn’t it).  Shortly thereafter, France, which had governed Morocco as a protectorate since 1912, granted it independance.

Then we moved to another air base where we had on-base housing.  I was a member of Troop 182, Nouasseur AFB, Morocco, from 1956 to 1959.  I think there were five US Boy Scout troops in Morocco, at four Air Force Bases and a Navy Base.  We had a summer camporee each year at Sidi Slimane AFB, which had a large wooded area, unlike the other bases, which were pretty arid and devoid of vegetation.  Scouts from the various troops selected for OA membership were tapped out at the annual camporee at Sidi Slimane AFB and completed their ordeal that night and the following day.  Once tapped out, we were allowed to get one raw egg and two matches, and we were then taken into the woods to spend the night alone.  The next day we had service projects to complete, but were not allowed to talk.  Probably not much different than now…? (Editor’s note - it is still very similar.)

The air bases that I can remember were Ben Geurir AFB, near Marrackech; Nouasseur AFB near Casablanca; Sidi Slimane AFB at Sidi Slimane; and an USAF installation at Rabat, the capital.  There was also a US Navy base at Port Lyautey.  I don’t know if there were troop rockers for the other bases that preceded the TAC red&white CSP for Morocco.

In 1959, our family moved to Ludwigsburg, Germany, where I joined Troop 63.  I earned my Eagle rank there, and I have a Eagle certificate signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  In Germany, we did a lot of joint activities with the German Boy Scouts, especially camping.  The German scouts were really into Indian lore.  They camped in large teepees which could accommodate a patrol size group, and did their cooking in homemade cookware over a fire in the center of the teepee.  We traded patches, knives, and belt buckles with each other.

I worked the summer of 1960 on the staff at Camp Freedom in Dautphe, Germany.  Camp Freedom was operated by the Transatlantic Council, and scouts from all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East attended camp there for two weeks.  Part of our staff duties were to conduct the OA Brotherhood ceremonies for Ordeal members from all the troops in attendance each two week segment.  We had a lot of fun doing these ceremonies, and a lot of the German neighbors would attend.  Many Germans were big fans of anything to do with Indians.  We had Indians costumes for the ceremonies, and Camp Freedom was a great place for Order of the Arrow activities.  I have some old photographs if you are interested.  I graduated from Stuttgart American HS in 1961 and returned to the States for college, and was inactive in scouting for several years.

I worked as an assistant scoutmaster, scoutmaster, and troop committee member  in Virginia during the 70’s and early 80’s, but I haven’t been active since then, other than contributing to the local council through the United Fund.   One nice memory was receiving a letter in the late 70’s from one of the boys in a troop where I had been an assistant scoutmaster a couple years earlier, thanking me for inspiring him to earn his Eagle rank.  He is a career Secret Service agent now.

Scouting was one of the few activities we had available, especially in Morocco, and it was a major part of my life then.  I most remember sleeping under the desert skies.  With virtually no light pollution and seldom a cloud, the night skies seem to be the most brilliant I remember seeing anywhere.   Before star-gazing, we always had a rousing game of night-time capture the flag.

Ed Morris

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For those of us who collect camp patches, we know that many camp properties were used by other groups, often the Girl Scouts (although I doubt at the same time ). We recently received the auction flyer for the California Inland Empire Council, BSA for this fall. It includes a wonderful example of this - Camp Tulakes.

This camp first started in the 1930s and was owned by Old Baldy Council. They sold it to Grayback Council in 1955. Grayback Council eventually merged into California Inland Empire Council in 1973. (From The Camp Book by Minnihan and Sherman).

We often get patches in where we know the name was used as a Boy Scout camp but the patch itself either “just isn’t right” or actually has the logo for another program. Conversely we’ve got patches in, often on merit badge sashes, but its not a Boy Scout camp. Many of these are or were YMCA camps that obviously the boy went to, probably with his troop, and thus put it on his sash.

In the CIEC auction they have the rest of this series of patches which clearly show Camp Tulakes was also used as a Girl Scout camp.

Actually, it was used by two different Girl Scout councils (or maybe it was like the Boy Scouts and the councils merged.)

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This is a Scout Legacy interview with Walt Helmreich. Walter, from Jefferson City, Missouri attended the 1933 World Jamboree where he spoke several times with Chief Scout Executive James E. West and even cooked corn for Baden-Powell.

I’ve broken the half-hour interview into four parts. These are standard flash files. Please let us know if you have any trouble with them. Also, please let us know your thoughts about these. We’re preparing some guidelines and interview questions so that maybe others could conduct these interviews and upload them as well.

In part two here Walter discusses early Camp Maries and the Jefferson City Council.

 

 Scout Legacy Interview Walter Helmreich, 2 [8:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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We’re starting something new here, what we’re calling “Legacy Interviews”. Technology is allowing us better than ever before to capture some of Scouting’s history, retain it, and share it with others.

Unfortunately our history is passing every day but we’re going to make an effort to capture it while we can. In this, our first “Legacy Interview” we interviewed Eagle Scout and Scouter Walter Helmreich. Still going strong at age 90, he joined Scouting in 1929 in Jefferson County Council, Jefferson City, Missouri. His father helped bring Scouting to Jefferson City. This council later became Lake of the Ozarks Council and then consolidated into Great Rivers Council.

Walter attended the 1933 World Jamboree where he spoke several times with Chief Scout Executive James E. West and even cooked corn for Baden-Powell.

I’ve broken the half-hour interview into four parts. These are standard flash files. Please let us know if you have any trouble with them. Also, please let us know your thoughts about these. We’re preparing some guidelines and interview questions so that maybe others could conduct these interviews and upload them as well.

I believe that every Scout and Scouter has a story to tell. Some may not be as significant as Walter’s but we are all contributors to the Scouting movement. I believe we, this country, need to tell and share these stories. Our needs for leadership, leadership development, and the development of our youth have never been greater. The needs, and maybe the means, are different today than they were in Walter’s youth but our country is better off with Scouting. I’d hate to think where we’d be if we did not have a vital Scouting movement here.

In part one here, Destry and I introduce Walter and he discusses how he got into Scouting. I am struck by, frankly, how similar it is to today.

 

 Scout Legacy Interview Walter Helmreich, part 1 [9:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I’ve been researching Illinois related Scouting since I was 15 years old and I just turned 37 the other day so I’ve been at it for quite awhile. I’d not heard of a camp or trail for any Illinois council that I was previously unaware of for a long long time. Well just the past couple weeks I’ve seen something from one of each.

First is a camp brochure I spotted on eBay from Camp Dunlap out of the Danville Council, Danville, IL. And to add insult to injury, I didn’t even know they were called by that name so late. I thought it was Piankeshaw Council before 1935. Camp was located in Indiana but obviously was the camp of this Council in Illinois if you read the brochure:

Second is a brochure from a Troop operated trail in Abraham Lincoln Council that I’ve never heard of before. It was called the Lincoln-Douglas Heritage Trail, located near Jacksonville, IL. And what’s even crazier is that they talk about a first day patch, a regular patch, and even a medal so there’s cool memorabilia from this thing:

Click on the picture of the trail brochure and you’ll get a larger version, it posted small for some reason.

Just goes to show you, nobody knows everything, even me. That makes me sad, I thought I might……..

Destry the Non-Guru

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First Posting from Destry the Chief of Sales:

OA issues that are previously unknown are pretty rare to find these days. There’s been so much digging and research done that there just isn’t much out there we’ve not seen before. But oddly enough, we’ve come up with two pieces lately that are apparently previously uncataloged items.

First is a segment from Wincheck Lodge 534 that goes around an early Camp Yawgoog round. We got it with a group of stuff from the estate of a gentleman who’d been a professional Scouter in that area during the late 40’s and early 50’s.

Same exact style and construction as the other segments, plus they were all in an envelope together. And to make it more interesting, going by how early the camp patch is, I’d say it’s probably the first issue of the Lodge.

Second is a piece from Passaconaway Lodge 220. Very similar to the R1 but with some major differences as well.

The top one is the patch we have and the bottom is the known variety of the 220 R1. Besides the green border, there are differences in the bear itself. On the one we have the bear clearly has a mouth and an eye, plus lots more fur detail than on the known R1.

The backs are very different. Ours has a heavy red cloth backing and a white backstitch on the embroidery. The known R1 has a white gauze backing and an all black backstitch. I’d say by the embroidery type of the known R1 it was made by St. Louis / Geer Embroidery as it’s the exact same type as a lot of their patches pre-1952. Considering it’s got more detail and is of a higher quality construction, I’d say it’s possibly an R2 issue.

*Thanks to Dr. Bob Sherman for emailing me the front and back of the known 220 R1*

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