Founders of Scouting and the BSA
| As a youth, Robert Baden-Powell
greatly enjoyed the outdoors, learning about nature and
how to live in the wilderness. After returning as a
military hero from service in Africa, Baden-Powell
discovered that English boys were reading the manual on
stalking and survival in the wilderness he had written
for his military regiment. Gathering ideas from Ernest
Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, and others, he
rewrote the manual as a nonmilitary nature skill book
and called it Scouting for Boys. To test his ideas,
Baden-Powell brought together 22 boys to camp at
Brownsea Island, off the coast of England . This
historic campout was a success and resulted in the
advent of Scouting. Thus, the imagination and
inspiration of Baden-Powell, later proclaimed Chief
Scout of the World, brought Scouting to youth the world
over. |
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Born
in Scotland, Ernest Thompson Seton immigrated to America
as a youth in the 1880s. His fascination with the
wilderness led him to become a naturalist, an artist,
and an author, and through his works he influenced both
youth and adults. Seton established a youth organization
called the Woodcraft Indians, and his background of
outdoor skills and interest in youth made him a logical
choice for the position of first Chief Scout of the BSA
in 1910. His many volumes of Scoutcraft became an
integral part of Scouting, and his intelligence and
enthusiasm helped turn an idea into reality. |
| Woodsman, illustrator, and
naturalist, Daniel Carter Beard was a pioneering spirit
of the Boy Scouts of America. Already 60 years old when
the Boy Scouts of America was formed, he became a
founder and merged it with his own boys' organization,
the Sons of Daniel Boone. As the first national Scout
commissioner, Beard helped design the original Scout
uniform and introduced the elements of the First Class
Scout badge. "Uncle Dan," as he was known to boys and
leaders, will be remembered as a colorful figure dressed
in buckskin who helped form Scouting in the United
States . |
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In 1909, Chicago publisher
William D. Boyce lost his way in a dense London fog. A
boy came to his aid and, after guiding the man, refused
a tip, explaining that as a Scout he would not take a
tip for doing a Good Turn. This gesture by an unknown
Scout inspired a meeting with Robert Baden-Powell, the
British founder of the Boy Scouts. As a result, William
Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February
8, 1910 . He also created the Lone Scouts, which merged
with the Boy Scouts of America in 1924. |
| James E. West was appointed the
first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America
in 1911. Although orphaned and physically handicapped,
he had the perseverance to graduate from law school and
become a successful attorney. This same determination
provided the impetus to help build Scouting into the
largest and most effective youth organization in the
world. When he retired in 1943, Dr. West was recognized
throughout the country as the true architect of the Boy
Scouts of America. |
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