A Scoutmaster's Blog

Melrose Scout Troop 68 has held two meal fundraisers per year for over three decades. During the last few years the troop has held a breakfast in the spring and a supper in the fall. This fall’s meal will be held tonight, October 25, at the Melrose American Legion. The spaghetti supper will be served from 5:00 to 8:00.

One of my jobs during the fundraiser is to plan and set up a Scouting display for people to view before and after their meal. The display features items I have collected over the decades and photo albums of the troop activities. Last night I gathered the materials for tonight’s display.

The background of the display will feature the two patch blankets I made with the patches I collected during my thirty years serving as the troop’s scoutmaster. I plan to cover two tables with items. The photo albums will use a large portion of the tables but I also plan to show a merit badge poster and a shadow box of Scouting ranks. Scouting themed popcorn tins will serve as centerpieces on some of the tables. Handbooks, framed photos, and a few miscellaneous items will finish the display.

I did not set up the display at home before packing it into the car, but I have a good idea what I want it to look like when it is set up at the Legion. Stay tuned for an upcoming article which will show you what it looked like when it was finished.

Do you set up a Scouting display at your fundraiser? What do you include with them. Leave a comment and let us know.

The Norman Rockwell reprint set I wrote about in the last post is not the only Scouting print set I own. I also have The New Spirit Of Scouting set featuring ten paintings of Joseph Csatari. These prints are also 11″ x 17″ and are great to have as part of my collection. Once again, I did use them in some displays, but since they are newer I did not use them as often. They are in much better shape than the Rockwell print set I have.

I love the Joseph Csatari paintings nearly as much as Norman Rockwell. He is a fantastic artist. You can easily see that Joseph was paying attention as he learned from the master. While the Rockwell prints captured the early days of Scouting, Csatari’s paintings capture more of today’s spirit. During his 60-year association with the BSA, he created more than 150 Scout-themed paintings and drawings. Did you know that his permanent Boy Scout collection of paintings is housed alongside Norman Rockwell’s at the National Scouting Museum? That is one more reason that I need to make a trip to the museum someday.

I wish the national Scout Shop would sell the Rockwell and Csatari print sets again. I bet there are a lot of current friends of Scouting and Scouters that would buy a set for themselves or as gifts. I would probably buy all three sets myself just so I could have an unused set of each in my collection.

Which one of the ten is your favorite? Do you or someone you know own this set? Leave a comment below.

A long time ago, in a galaxy… Oh wait, Let me start again. Way back in the 1980’s, which is prehistory to today’s Scouts, a young scoutmaster began collecting Scouting memorabilia. That collection continues to grow to this day, although not as fast as it once did. Tonight, as I was looking through a closet downstairs, I came across a few items that I bet most of today’s Scouters did not even know existed for sale at one time. One of those items is a set of Norman Rockwell reprints.

The set is called “Scouting Through The Eyes Of Norman Rockwell”. It contains ten 11″ x 17″ reprints of various paintings by Norman Rockwell, which I believed were used for the annual Boy Scouts of America calendar. The ten prints feature some of the most iconic paintings of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts done by Mr. Rockwell. (See the picture below for the names of the prints in the set.)

I bought the set as soon as I saw it in the local Scout Shop back then. These prints did not just stay in the package. I used them, and used them well. They were used for courts of honor. They were used in displays set up around town. If I thought they fit into something I was doing I was not afraid to get them out and put them to use. The many tape marks are proof of that.

I have not used them in any displays for over ten years or more. They are now keepsakes in my Scouting collection. In fact, I kind of wish I never used them in displays. The tape marks and slight crinkles do mare the looks a bit. But I did, and that is the way they are. Maybe the prints mean even more to me since I did use them. I know people enjoyed looking at them.

The set is labeled as Series II. Unfortunately, I did not pick up a set of Series I when it was available. To tell the truth, I do not even remember seeing Series I for sale. I did a quick search on eBay and did find a Series II set for sale at a Buy It Now price of $45.00. I don’t think I am quite ready to buy another set at that price, even though it does appear to be in much better shape then mine. Although at $20.00 I would maybe think about it.

Do any of you have this Norman Rockwell print set? Have you put it to use like I did, or did you keep your set in pristine condition? Add a comment below.

I have collected a lot of Scouting memoribilia during my 35 years as an adult leader in Scouting. I have hundreds of patches, dozens of handbooks, a large tote of 2001 National Jamboree souvenirs, and enough coffee mugs to go over two months without needing to wash one. One wall in the family room is covered with honors. Another features pictures of the troop’s Eagle Scouts. And there are the Beagle Scout Snoopy Hallmark ornaments, in addition to all kinds of other stuff. Yep, I have quite a collection. Maybe too much.

In December I became a member of the board for the Melrose Area History Museum. They have a small Scouting display featuring items from local Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts. Most of the Boy Scouting display features items I donated over the years, but they do have some interesting items donated by other people including a Boy’s Life article featuring an Eagle Scout from Melrose. (See the post about that article HERE.)

On Wednesday I stopped by the museum and took a look at the display. It could use a few more items, I thought to myself. I had an idea. Maybe it is time to thin out my collection of coffee mugs. I took a few measurements of the display case and designed a little three level shelf that could display 15 coffee mugs, and still allow some other items to be placed in front of it.

Today I decided to put my idea into action. I bought a couple 1×4 pine boards to make the two foot wide shelf. This evening I took the time to nail it together. Then I choose fifteen mugs from the collection to donate to the museum to be part of this addition to the Scouting display. The picture shows the shelf and the mugs chosen. Now I need to paint the boards white to brighten the display and highlight the mugs.

Yes, I will loose fifteen coffee mugs from my collection, but that still leaves over sixty of them on display in my family room. The 15 I chose to give are doubles I have and Central Minnesota Council mugs used as incentives during various promotions over the decades. I think these mugs will make a nice addition to the museum display. What do you think?

When Troops 1417 and 1418 from the Central Minnesota Council attended the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree in 2001 we traveled to Virginia and back by chartered bus. Each troop had it own bus, but the busses stayed together. As the scoutmaster of Troop 1417 I enjoyed the three day journey to Virginia because it gave the troop’s members a chance to get to know each other a little better before we arrived at Fort A.P. Hill for the big event.

On the way back home, after the Jambo was over, the air conditioner on our bus broke down. Even with the windows and the roof vents open it did not take long for the temperature to rise in the vehicle. It also did not take long for the Boy Scouts to remove their Jamboree tee shirts as they tried to remain cool. Luckily, the air conditioning was restored for the day day of traveling.

Those Jamboree tee shirts became more meaningful during our last night on the road as we returned home. Someone, I do not remember who, came up with the idea to sign each others shirts, like students do with their yearbooks. The cleaner one of each person’s two tee shirts were laid out over a few tables at the place we were staying. Boy Scouts and the adult leaders moved from shirt to shirt singing their names with a permanent marker. Nearly everyone participated.

I thought it was an excellent idea. That signed shirt had now become a more interesting souvenir of the Jamboree, and a signed one to boot. My shirt immediately became a permanent part of my Jamboree collection once I arrived home. After it was washed, of course.

It would be fun to contact some of those former Scouts to discover if they still have those signed shirts. Did they pack them in a tote with other Jamboree memorabilia, or did they wear them until they became so thin they had to be thrown out? Maybe those young men do not even know were their tee shirts are any longer. After all,that was twelve years ago. Many have been to college during that time and a lot of them are now married with families of their own.

I subscribe to the eBay Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter that is done by Jason Spangler. While most of the eBay auctions featured are for various patches once in awhile he lists something new that catches my eye. Today was one of those days. There is an auction that ends today for a 1950s MARX TIN LITHO CABIN, WITH SCOUTS AND ACCESSORIES. It is like a toy soldier action playset except that it features Boy Scouts figures at a summer camp setting. It features a scoutmasters cabin with 16 scouts, 29 different pieces of accessories and 14 North American wildlife figures. I never knew something like this existed. At the time I write this the bid is at $222 with six and a half hours left to go. The picture shown here is an overall view of the playset but more pictures are posted to the action that show more details. Check it out at http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261187177809

While I would love to have this as a part of my Scouting collection but it is already out of my price range. (My scoutmaster pension was not as much as I had hoped for. jk) Of course, you never know. Maybe I have a reader of this blog who would like to purchase this set and give it to me as a present.

It could happen.

UPDATE: The playset sold for $255.00.

Patches, patches, and more patches. I have quite a few patches. I have already written about my collection of 2001 National Jamboree council shoulder patches, and the collection of Order of the Arrow lodge patches. Add these two together and you may get close to how many patches are in my regular Council Shoulder Patch (CSP) collection, the subject of today’s Memorabilia Monday.

I began collecting CSP’s shortly after attending a scoutmaster training session at Philmont Scout Ranch in 1984. It was during that conference that I was introduced to the world of patch trading. Unfortunately, I did not bring along any patches to trade, but I have made an effort to bring patches to any other national event since then. Patch trading offers a great opportunity to meet people from around the country, and even from other nations.

The picture shows a small part of the collection. I am sure the collection could be much larger, but I am still a shy guy and the opportunities to trade have been few and far between. Sometimes, If I happen to drive by a council office I will stop by and but a patch or two. You could say I trade currency for a patch at those moments. I would guess that the collection currently has over 130 patches, including every Central Minnesota Council patch variation since 1980. (I think.) This does not include the Jamboree patches or Order of the Arrow patches.

Do you collect council shoulder patches? How many do you have? Do you have any that have a special place in your collection?

100 Days of Scouting: Day 56.

Bryan Wendell, the writer of the Bryan On Scouting blog (formally known as the Cracker Barrel) wrote an article today that I found to be quite interesting. He wrote about Memorabilia Monday. He encouraged readers to send in a picture of something from their Scouting collection along with a short description. I thought it was a great idea. I left him a comment to tell him I was going to steal his idea for my blog.

I have been collecting Scouting memorabilia for over 30 years. The collection includes Boy Scout and Cub Scout handbooks, patches, coffee mugs, novels, and plenty of other things. I thought I had enough stuff to write a Memorabilia Monday article for several weeks, so I sat down to make an outline. I came up with enough “themes” for 45 posts. That would take me through November of this year. Today will be the first post.

One of the highlights of my Scouting career was attending the 2001 National Jamboree as the scoutmaster of Troop 1417. While at the jambo, I began trading jamboree council shoulder patches, also known as csp’s. I came home with a few dozen of them and have been adding to the collection during the last nine years.

The patches are kept in a three ring binder, organized in clear pages that contain from a two to six patches each. Even the larger patches and patch sets are protected by plastic sheet protectors.

Most of the collection is made up of single patch sets, or only one or two patches from a set. I have been lucky enough over the years to add a few complete sets of csp’s from a few council contingents. It would be fun to post a picture of each patch along with this article but there are too many of them. I settled on showing a small portion of the collection. The pictures are thumbnails. Click on any one to see the larger view.

By the way, if you have any patches from the 2001 National Jamboree that you do not want any longer be sure to write me a note. I may be able to help you find a good home for them.

Do not forget to check out “Bryan On Scouting” located at http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/