Exhibit Spotlight: The Peanuts, Beagle Scouts, and Scouting

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This month’s Exhibit Spotlight includes Scouting history and the Peanuts, the classic comic strip featured in newspapers around the world. Today, the Peanuts have seen a resurgence in popularity so we thought it would be a great time to talk about the history of the Peanuts and Scouting America.

It was on May 13, 1974, that Snoopy, the iconic Beagle belonging to Charlie Brown, would join the Beagle Scouts at the Tenderpaw Rank. It wouldn’t take long for the Beagle Scouts to grow to include Woodstock and some other bird friends.

The Peanuts then later appeared in at least 2 separate Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for the Boy Scouts of America: one for the Cub Scouts featuring Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts, and the other for the Boy Scouts featuring Charlie Brown and a catchy tune. We aren’t sure which came first, but it seems like the Cub Scout PSA was made in 1978 and was reused in the 1980s. The Charlie Brown Boy Scout PSA was created and released in 1979. Both of these PSAs were made by the same teams that produced the Peanuts’ television specials. If you have any information about when these were produced, when they were reused, and why they went out of us, please reach out and let us know. We don’t really have much more information than that right now.

The creator of The Peanuts, Charles Schulz was awarded a Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America National Area Council in 1987 and the Silver Buffalo Award in 1988 for his contributions to American Culture and Society through the Peanuts comic strips.

His creation would outlive him and today you can find the Peanuts all over. Camp Snoopy, a TV show on Apple TV featuring the Beagle Scouts has brought the Beagle Scouts to a new audience and younger kids. You can find Snoopy and Beagle Scouts in amusement parks as well

MORE TO COME SOON!