Scout History

This page is a collection of links to contributions to Scout History that have been gathered by the International Scouting Museum.  The focus is to bring you descriptions of scouting accounts and in some cases, how experiences have changed people’s lives.

Piet Kroonenberg

Piet, a world scout historian, was active in Scouting in the Netherlands during World War II. During that time, Scouting was illegal and everything had to be “underground”. He shares his experiences in several stories.

Swastikas in Scouting

The first Scouting use of the ‘swastika’ was for the Thanks Badge introduced in 1908 in Britain and it continued to be worn in various forms until 1935. BSA did not develop a Thanks Badge and the only use of the swastika as a pin was that worn by the National Executive Board from 1910 to 1919.

1953 National Jamboree

John Angus attended the National Jamboree and articles from his local newspapers were saved which the museum is sharing. Two interesting events were the thousands of scouts going to worship services and that Bob Hope entertained.

Sustainability History

In 2013, BSA introduced the Sustainability merit badge as an option to the Environmental Science merit badge. The LVISM contributed most of the material that was shared at the 2013 National Scout Jamboree. These web pages are the material that was shared:

• World War I
  • Black Walnut
  • Fruit Pit Collecting
  • Food and Coal Conservation
  • Gardening Medal
• World War II
  • Aluminum and Other Metal Recycling
  • Waste Paper Collecting
  • Scrap Rubber Collecting
  • Milkweed Collecting
  • Gardening
  • Grub Scout Button
  • Conservation
  • Waste Paper Award
  • Eisenhower Award
  • MacArthur Medal
  • Green Thumb Certificates
  • Form Letter Provided by the National Council to be Sent Out by Local Council Executives
• Other Projects
  • SOAR
  • ArrowCorps5

---