A Scoutmaster's Blog

When you are an adult leader, or a former Cub Scout or Boy Scout who is now grown up, it is fun to look back at the Scouting days of your youth. It is fun to reminisce about those Pinewood Derbies, camping trips, or award ceremonies. That is one reason I take so many pictures when I attend a troop or pack function. I know the boys and their parents will enjoy looking back at them several years from now.

Since the national office of the Boy Scouts of America does not seem to do much of anything to promote Scouting outside of their own organization (or if they do, I never seem to catch it) I always appreciate it when I see Scouting represented in a good light in the newspaper or in a magazine. Thanks to my parents I have been reading some issues of a magazine called Reminisce. It features stories written by the readers of those days gone by. Articles include stories from the 1920’s through the 1970’s. At my age, somewhere in my fifties, I find many of these articles fun to read and even historical.

A few times I have stumbled across pictures and stories in Reminisce that are Scouting related or feature pictures of Scouting events. I really enjoy reading these stories, and the pictures are a blast to look at. One issue a few months ago even featured Cub Scouts participating in a soapbox derby of the cover of the magazine. Another larger photo was included inside. I have spotted Scouting pictures in other issues. Oh, those long ago days…

Have you read any magazines lately that feature Scouting related stories, that are not Boys Life or Scouting magazine? What magazines were they? What was the story? Leave a comment and let us know about it.

I became an assistant scoutmaster at the young age of 19 in June 1980. Shortly thereafter, I began receiving Boy’s Life and Scouting magazines, the two official publications of the Boy Scouts of America. I enjoyed reading them, and they were a part of my training during those early years of being a scoutmaster of Melrose Troop 68.

Instead of recycling those early magazines I held onto them. I thought they could come in handy as a reference. As the years went by and the pile grew larger I bought some magazine file boxes to store and organize them, still thinking I may look back at them some day. As the decades went by I continued to save the issues. The collection grew!

It has now been over 37 years since those first issues arrived. For over 37 years I have been collecting and filing both magazines. I probably have about 450 issues of Boy’s Life (12 per year) and over 185 issues of Scouting magazine (5 per year). The collection, seen in the picture, covers more than ten feet of shelving.

I have now reached the point at which I am wondering why I have kept all these magazines. I have only looked at a few back issues a couple of times. What should I do with them all? There are over 600 of them, with more coming every month. I doubt there are many people with as large of a collection as I have. I would hate to just throw them away. I know of no one who would want them. I doubt the local museum has a need for them. I am sure the local Scout office would want them for any reason.

What do you think? Do you have a suggestion on what to do with this collection? Leave your comments and suggestions below. Thanks.

I was working on my second patch blanket today and came up to a spot for which I needed a patch. Along the edge of the blanket I have been placing patches that do not really fit with an activity I have attended. Instead, I have been using special patches for anniversaries, special occasions, and generic type things. I needed one of these type of patches for a spot around the perimeter of the blanket.

I began to look through my notebooks and bins to find one that would be a good one for the spot. I found one that would fit well, but it also reminded me of a magazine I once subscribed to that does not exist anymore. It was a patch given to charter subscriber of Scouter Magazine, an independent publication about Scouting, written by Scouters. I really enjoyed reading this magazine. It was full of great ideas and articles written by Scout Leaders from around the country. It was not meant to replace Scouting Magazine, but was a publication for adults in Scouting to share ideas in the late 1990’s. Remember, the internet was just starting to get popular and there was not a lot about Scouting online yet.

Scouter Magazine only lasted for about five years, unfortunately. I still have my issues, which are probably collector items by now. Then again, maybe not. Most of the people who received the magazine have probably left Scouting and thrown away their issues. It would be great if someday this publication could be started again, along with an electronic version. Bring it into the 21st century. I bet they would have a lot easier time getting articles from contributors these days. But then, when you think about it, maybe blogging has taking that role. HalfEagle.com has done a good job about bringing some of the best blogs about Scouting into one easy to use format.

As I was looking online for information about Scouter Magazine this evening, the only thing I found was an open letter written in February 2001 about the closing of Scouter Magazine.

Oh well, the magazine may be a part of history but my patch will finally see the light of day as it goes from the notebook to the blanket. At least people who see the blanket will know that for a short while I was a charter subscriber to Scouter Magazine.

The other day I received my latest copy of Scouting Magazine. (For those of you unfamiliar with that publication, it is the B.S.A.’s official magazine for adult leaders of the Scouting program.) I have always enjoyed reading Scouting and often got a pointer or two from each issue. The cover of this latest edition caught my attention. I did not realize that it is the 100th anniversary of Scouting magazine, but the front cover announces it boldly to the whole world.

According to the Scouting magazine website:

How many magazines do you know that can say they’ve published for 100 years? As of April 2013, you can count Scouting magazine among them. For 100 years, we’ve published more than 900 issues — all with the same goal: serving the BSA’s adult leaders and volunteers.

To celebrate our centennial anniversary, we’ve partnered up with the University of North Texas Digital Projects Unit to digitize every single issue of Scouting that ever rolled off the press.

You can view the initial product from this partnership at scoutingmagazine.org/archives. Here, you’ll see scanned editions of magazines from as early as 1913 to the mid 1920s. Visitors can search these scans, zoom in to examine photographs and illustrations, and read stories that describe issues faced by early Scouters.

http://scoutingmagazine.org/2013/02/welcome-to-the-scouting-magazine-archives/

This got me thinking. I signed up as an assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68 in May 1980. I have been receiving Scouting Magazine ever since then, for 33 years. That means I own one third of all the Scouting Magazines ever published. Yes, that is correct. I still have them. They are stored in a closet in the basement, along with 33 years of Boy’s Life Magazine. For some reason I never threw them away. A little weird, huh?

Congratulations to the folks at Scouting Magazine! May you have another 100 years worth of issues in your future.

I do not subscribe to very many magazines. I receive Boy’s Life and Scouting magazines, of course. I own a Macintosh computer so I receive Mac/Life and MacWorld magazines. I also get Entertainment Weekly just for the fun of it. Once in a while I may subscribe to Consumer reports or Popular Science. A magazine I once subscribed to and enjoyed was American Scouting Digest (ASD).

I liked receiving American Scouting Digest. It was a magazine published and written by people who cared about Scouting. The articles were well written. The photographs were outstanding. There was even an “Ask Andy” section of the magazine.

The magazine was a high class printing. Each page was thick stock paper and in color. The photographs were great to look at. The articles were well written. Each issue was only about 44 pages long, but they were worth looking at. The magazine was a fine addition to the official magazines I receive that are published by the Boy Scouts of America.

Tonight, I was sorting through a pile of magazines that had accumulated in my rack (about a two foot tall pile) and I came across my last issues of ASD. The last one I recieved was the Fall 2007 issue. I do not recall getting a subcription notice in the mail so I went online and checked out their site, and noticed it was very out of date. My first thought was, “I guess they quit printing the magazine.”

I did a little more digging on the site and found a phone number to call about subscribing, so I called it. To tell the truth, I did not expect to get on answer, or if I did that it would be the operator telling me this number has been disconected. I was surprised when, after a few rings, Ron Miller ( I think) answered the phone. Mr. Miller is the publisher of ASD.

After a short conversation with Mr. Miller, I discovered that the magazine is printed only after they have enough advertising to cover the printing costs. They do not accept paid subscriptions anymore, but send out issues free to those who ask for one, when they get around to printing one. I asked that he add my name to his mailing list.

I look forward to once again receiving American Scouting Digest, but I realize there may only be two or three issues per year. I hope they find more advertisers to get things running again to printing four to six issues per year. That would be great.