The first BSA camp was held at the YMCA’s Silver Bay facility near Lake George, NY from August 16 – September 1, 1910. Like what Baden-Powell did earlier in England at Brownsea Island, the Scout leaders tested out the concept and interest in a summer camp experience for youth.

In the earliest days of the BSA, before James West was hired as Chief Scout Executive, it was Edgar Robinson Director of the YMCA in New York city, that was helping to administer the developing organization. Actually, Robinson was involved in the selection, recruitment and hiring of West.

From the BSA National Jamboree Silver Bay exhibit syllabus:

… in 1910 Robinson, Seton (Founder of the Woodcraft Indians) and others, like Dan Beard (Founder of Sons of Daniel Boone), had become national leaders in founding the Boy Scouts of America. This caused camp plans to shift, and an experimental Woodcraft Boy Scout Camp resulted.

Campers were instructed in advance on what equipment was needed for camp through the YMCA newsletter Association Boys. Among the items listed were a ‘khaki suit and khaki hat.’ This was the first effort toward any type of standard uniform for American Scouts.

Campers were told to bring five books with them to camp. Besides the Bible, there was Alice Fletcher’s book on Indian stories and songs, and Horace Kephart’s classic on camping. Both authors were considered the leading experts in their fields. Seton’s Birch Bark Roll and Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys were also listed. But by the time of the camp, the BSA’s first Handbook for Boys had come out. The new handbook combined parts of The Birch Bark Roll and Scouting for Boys into one book and credited both men. Several copies of the first Handbook for Boys were brought to the camp.

From Silver Bay syllabus excerpt courtesy of staff director Kelly Williams

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Before there were smart phones we had digital cameras. Before digital cameras were film cameras (those too young to have not seen film – it was called that because because pictures were captured on a physical media). Before film, and now we’re outside of my era, there were glass slides that held pictures that could be shown.

Reaching out to the web:

” The lantern slide has its origins in 17th century optical viewing devices which came to be known as “magic lanterns.” The earliest slides for magic lanterns consisted of hand-painted images on glass, projected by itinerant showmen telling stories about the images that were projected….” Source: Magic Lantern Slide Society

Again, pre-dating me, when these first came out there were no movie screens so seeing pictures from elsewhere around the world was quite a novelty and experience. They were generally phased out by the 1940s/1950s as they were replaced by the acetate 35mm film slides.

There exist glass lantern slides for Scouts. One such set we acquired when we bought the Buffalo Scout Museum of Paul and Diana Freitag. Paul had created a wonderful display box of a set he aquired that the council, at the time, was throwing out. We donated the slide display to the Council. It is on display at their council headquarters. It covers the first 25 years of the council including a picture of when Baden-Powell visited the council as well as the early days of Camp Scouthaven. Here’s a quick video we shot of the display.

We recently got in a complete Scout slide set out of Chicago circa 1918 from the John Vacca estate. Some are in black and white but many are in color which again was rare for this era. Here are scans for a few of them.

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Just this past week I was discussing with a senior collector about the struggles in the hobby right now with knowledge. We are creating so many items that its hard to keep up with what’s newly issued and as a result the older, seldom seen items get missed or forgotten. Ultimately the solution is better education and education tools.

Against that is technology is giving us better tools to record and share information than ever before. This thought comes to mind as I was responding to a share of an eBay auction for an old Camp Tom Wooten felt camp patch.

The title says it was from the 1930s. To me it didn’t quite have that “feel” as I have patches with this design in my collection that are dated in the 1940s. Well, a person quickly was able share a web-site link that showed the historical Camp Tom Wooten patches. Very neat! Very useful. There are a lot of these out there but what we need to do is figure out how to integrate them all.

In the OA Blue Book web-site, collectors can now record the history of patches in the comment fields for any issue. We could never do that before and it only works with an on-line database. (and there has to be in the design for folks to comment back either to add to the information or correct a mis-statement). We need to do more of this.

A few years back I created the ScoutPatchWiki. Folks from around the world were putting reference information in. But, it got massively hacked by foreign spammers and had to take it down. I still have the data and it looks like the software has increased its security so maybe that will be part of the new year’s resolutions is to resurrect this site.

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My team has handled a LOT of patches over the years so I always enjoy seeing new mainline collectibles I’ve not seen before such as this council patch. Not sure the value (min bid is $300 with a buy-it-now of $400) but the seller is a VERY knowledgeable CA collector so he probably has a good feel for it. (P.S. I call it “mainline” as it is a collecting theme that has been around for decades. Now I’ve also been saying that CP/council patch collecting is WAY over due for an update to its collector list. Someone? Anyone? up to it? It will be fun, but a lot of work.)

From the seller’s description:

This is an old rare council patch (CP) which was worn on the Scout jacket as a jacket patch.  The patch was issued by the old Tahoe Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, headquartered in Auburn, California (now part of Golden Empire Council).  The patch is silk screen on light canvas and is 6 1/2 inches across and 4 1/2 inches high.

And I mentioned ‘patches’ – here’s a nice price realized for a felt Camp Pahatsi, again Tahoe Area Council, that closed at $177.51

Used but in nice shape, seller says its from the 1940s which seems about right. As I’ve said before not every, actually most, felt camp patch is worth $100 but many are given their scarcity and demand.

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A friend knowing my interest in camp patches sent me an eBay link to the following patch from Camp Chickawaki:

The title of the listing is “Vintage felt Camp Chickawaki Patch Boy Scout BSA.” Now the design looks like other Boy Scout camp patches from the 1940s and 1950s but I had not heard of this camp name. This doesn’t mean everything but puts it in the “question mark” category for me. I asked Destry if he had heard of it. He hadn’t either but with the vigor, and routine of youth, he Googled it and found out “Apparently it was a non-Scout summer camp in Lehigh Valley Council. The seller has some 50’s era Trexler stuff so that fits. Gotta love Google…..”. I’m just not as fast to going to Google but the internet search engines have been a real added value to researching Scout patches. I say “routine of youth” as my son, a college junior, when he doesn’t immediately know the answer to a question Googles it.

What this listing also shows though is that many folks will post items in the Boy Scout category hoping to either trick someone or hoping to get a score which tells me our category sells better than many others.

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A recent eBay auction I was watching was for a Camp Tom Wooten patch out of Texas.

Its different than the normal design that shows the Texas capital building. Was curious what it would bring even though its undated (most, if not all of their felt camp patches are undated to the best of my current knowledge). Well, now we know. It certainly was not overlooked. It closed at $942.

This comes to mind after just coming back from the Columbus Ohio TOR (a really nice regional TOR by the way). A collector was asking for my advice as to what to price a 1923 Camp Wayne felt patch from Wayne County Council along with paperwork and documentation. Well the first thought that came to mind was $500 but also said $1,000 would not be out of line as well. I then mentioned to the collector about a felt camp patch selling in the Phil Parlett estate auction that went for over $3,000. Now there are a lot of felt camp patches that don’t/won’t bring more than $10 if that much but …. for the right specimen from the right part of the country and right camp… well, “Katie, bar the door!”

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Senior collector Paul Myers of Goshen, IN was at the recent Calumet Council Memorial Day Trade-o-ree. Paul is a former editor of the Trader magazine in the 1960s. In the 1990s he wrote a regular column for ASTA, the America Scout Traders Association, which merged with NSCA to form ISCA the national group today. At the TOR Paul was handing out a compilation of the articles he wrote for ASTA. It is now contained in a PDF below. It covers over 75 topics of Scouting collectibles. Not in depth necessarily but my guess is that even veteran collectors will learn something knew from going through these pages.

The topics include:

• Amaquonsippi trail patches
• US Grant Pilgrimage patches
• Lincoln Pilgrimage patches
• Contest medals
• Henderson Award System
• Belt Stencils
• Colored Background Service Stars
• BSA Anniversary Week
• Ribbon Pin Bars
• 100% Duty
• Standard Church Troop Bars
• Original Twelve Regions
• OA Chapter Flaps
• Early Registration Cards
• Scout Emergency Units
• Recruiter Strips
• Scout Diaries
• Boy Rangers of America
• District Badges
• Region 7 Hoe Down
• Sweater, swim suit, hat and jacket badges
• Veteran Emblems
• Explorer Top Awards
• Presidents Awards & Quality Unit
• SeniorScout Titles
• Civic Service
• Overseas Travel Badges
• Service Library
• WW 1 War Service Medals
• National Service Camps
• Boy Scout Bands
• Tenure in Scout Camp
• Service Troops
• Jamboree Staff Positions
• Jamboree Participation Awards
• Jamboree Contingent items
• Jamboree Shoulder Identification
• 1950 Jamboree Prototypes
• Variations in Jamboree Patches and Neckerchiefs
• Jamboree Region Items
• Strengthen the Arm of Liberty Program
• Take Me Home Folders
• Scout Straight Knives
• Scoutmaster’s Key
• Cub Scouting
• First Class Hat Pins
• Patrol Identification
• Folding Pocket Knives
• OA Chapter Badges
• Scout Rings
• Pin Back Buttons
• State Strips
• Early Camp Honor Societies
• Philadelphia District Badges
• Region Standard Camp Badges
• Philmont Contingent Patches
• Merit Badges
• Boycraft Co. Booklets
• 10 Year Program Award
• Sea Scout Ships

Boy Scout Memorabilia Information

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A recent back and forth set of e-mails with Texas friend Roger Schustereit was about an eBay offering of a “Scout Camp Patch”

The title of the listing is: Boy Scout Vintage Felt Patch Camp Kenan

picturing this patch:

My first reaction was that I don’t know this camp name and that the patch does not “feel” like a Scout camp patch. A simple Google search reveals that there is a still active YMCA Camp Kenan in Lockport, NY. Finding this, it VERY much feels like a YMCA patch (they are often red and white and often have a red triangle on them which this one does not).

In some ways it speaks to the strength of our collecting area and the presence/influence of the Boy Scouts of America. Lots of these peddlers place things in the Boy Scout eBay category hoping to strike a lick. What it means is they think this is the best place to put these unknowns hoping they become knowns.

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Texas friend Roger S., knowing I like vintage camp patches, shared a link for a felt 1946 Camp Lowden patch from Blackhawk Area Council listed on eBay.

Its being offered at $9.99 by a knowledgeable seller. It might go for that. It might get into the $25 range. It won’t get into the $100 range. Why? Here’s what I told Roger:

this is an example where the council was much larger and active in the 1940s than in the 2010s. TX is the reverse- 1940s TX was a MUCH smaller place. So camp patches from there are much scarcer to begin with and more natural demand today. Other places like this are Washington, DC, California and the Pacific Northwest. Conversely NY is relatively flat from a camp patch perspective even though there is a lot of population there, Scouting was so active in the early years that the patches are available even if scarce.

Demographics come into play in many areas of Scouting collectibles. This is one of them. There are others.

For more on Demographics and collecting see 50’s is the new 30’s where I observe

We will be collectors for much longer than we might realize. We will have a much longer period to pursue our hobbies. We will have more extended retirement period than our parents or grandparents and thus more free time to pursue our hobbies.

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