Scouting History

A reader recently inquired to the origins of the left handshake as a greeting for Scouts. After researching the question the short answer is that, while no one can really determine who first started the tradition, the left handshake is a tradition older than Scouting. Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting) may have adopted the left handshake from author, illustrator and co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America Earnest Thompson- Seton’s early pre-Boy Scouts of America writings....

‘It Happened to Jane’ (1959) starred Jack Lemmon and Doris Day. It’s an O.K. movie (Ernie Kovaks is the villain). This clip is a little long , but watch the first part. Note the reasonably realistic, chaotic group of Cub Scouts. Doris singing ‘Be Prepared’ as Jack strums the ukulele on backup. As a youngster I would have been a worshipful, attentive and enthusiastic singer if the lovely Ms. Day showed up at my cook out....

From Aarhus, to New York, and beyond … … the remarkable story of how young Vilhelm Hans Bjerregaard Jensen’s encounter with a crate of WWI surplus semaphore flag poles changed the course Scouting in the United States. But I had become a restless dreamer. The two world jamborees had stirred my blood. I had met people from around the world. I wanted to meet them on their home grounds. I arranged with my newspaper to be its roaming reporter on a trip around the world....

I have spent some memorable hours reading an advance copy of David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy’s new book The Scouting Party… … a thoroughly researched, unflinching account of the founding and first decade of the BSA focused on the lives of Earnest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell and Daniel Carter Beard. To my knowledge no one has so thoroughly analyzed the events and personalities involved in the founding of the BSA....

From an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal; Boy, the Scout Handbook Keeps Changing by Tony Woodleif, a succinct and thoughtful evaluation of what Scouting means to a Scout and his family: I suppose a handbook won’t determine whether my sons have an enriching Scout experience. Their troop’s leaders will. And I will. “Troops,” says an Eagle Scout friend, “are like churches.” You get some good and some bad; it depends on who’s doing the work....

Over a century volumes of guidance has been offered to Scoutmasters yet none is so effective as that of the founder of the worldwide Scouting movement Robert Baden-Powell A boy carries out suggestions more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim. A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens. Be Prepared… the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise....

The 1913 proof edition of the Handbook for Scout Masters is available at Google Books. This draft was distributed for comment to perfect the final edition. Here’s a (rather large) PDF version of the 1913 Proof of Scoutmaster Handbook To be an effective Scouter we ought to continually assess our understanding of first principles, and there’s much food for thought in this edition of the Scoutmaster’s handbook. It’s also an interesting glimpse into Scouting history....

In his book, The Left Handshake, Hilary St. George Saunders recounts the history of the Boy Scout Movement during the Second World War. 1939-1945. The book is available in PDF format. The Left Handshake is the story of how scouts in occupied countries aided resistance movements, maintained their troops and provided many public services often at great personal risk. Poland, The Warsaw Uprising- “After sixty-three days of bitter fighting, the insurrection was crushed, and on the 3rd October, 1944, Warsaw fell for the second time....