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BSA Founded

In 1909, Chicago publisher William D. Boyce was visiting London, and as legend has it, 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. It is known that Boyce was assisted by a Scout and found his way to the Scout headquarters where he bought a copy of “Scouting for Boys”. This gesture by an unknown Scout inspired the philanthropic Boyce to help finance the start-up of the BSA.

On February 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. From that day forth, Scouts have celebrated February 8 as the birthday of Scouting in the United States.

On June 21, 1910, 34 national representatives of boys’ work agencies met in a temporary national headquarters in a YMCA office in New York City and developed organizational plans. Many people and organizations actually helped get the BSA going, but the more notable founders of Scouting are: William D. Boyce, as the coordinator and incorporator, Ernest Thompson Seton (started Woodcraft Indians in 1902) as the “Chief Scout”, Daniel Carter Beard (founder of Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905) and the first National Scout Commissioner, James E. West, the first Chief Scout Executive and President William Howard Taft as the first Honorary President.

The BSA's stated purpose at its incorporation in 1910 was,

to teach [boys] patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred values.

Later, in 1937, Deputy Chief Scout Executive George J. Fisher expressed the BSA's mission;

Each generation as it comes to maturity has no more important duty than that of teaching high ideals and proper behavior to the generation which follows.

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Ernest Thompson Seton

Ernest Thompson Seton was a Canadian naturalist, writer, and artist. He became very interested in studying wolves while working in Canada. Those experiences later became the basis for a number of animal fiction stories by Seton. Following his time in Canada, Seton moved to New York. When some local kids damaged some of his property, he invited them over for a weekend and taught them stories about nature and American Indians (as opposed to punishing them).

Seton created a youth group called the Woodcraft Indians in 1902; their program was based on American Indian culture and traditions. Seton wrote some articles for Ladies’ Home Journal that same year; these articles became the Woodcraft Handbook, and the Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians. Baden-Powell was strongly influenced by Seton and borrowed a number of Seton’s ideas for his 1908 book Scouting for Boys.

In 1910, Seton helped to found the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Seton wrote the Official Handbook: A Handbook of Woodcraft, Scouting, and Life-craft (in which he relied greatly on Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys, as well as his own Birch Bark Roll), merged the Woodcraft Indians with the BSA, and served as the first Chief Scout of the BSA from 1910 to 1915. Seton made sure that American Indian culture had a significant role in the BSA.  American Indian culture also had an impact on the the founders of the Order of the Arrow.

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Daniel Carter Beard

Daniel Carter Beard, known to many in Scouts as “Uncle Dan” Beard, was an American illustrator and author. He illustrated several books for the famous author Mark Twain. He wrote numerous articles for St. Nicholas Magazine that he later put together as The American Boys Handy Book. He was a good friend with Ernest Thompson Seton, future Chief Scout of the BSA.

In 1905, Beard founded the Sons of Daniel Boone, which used many American frontier skills as their activities. This group later merged into the Boy Scouts of America when it formed in 1910. Dan Beard was named one of the original National Scout Commissioners and held that position for over 30 years before his death in 1941. Beard and Seton are largely responsible for what is known as the “Traditional Scouting” movement (the BSA Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs, however, the term also applies to the basic outdoor skills and activities central to Scouting). Beard also served as editor of Boy’s Life, and wrote a regular column for youth in the magazine.

Dan Beard passed away on June 11, 1941. E. Urner Goodman was selected out of the national office to be in charge of the funeral. An estimated 2,000 plus Scouts lined the funeral route.

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Scouting Founded

Lord Robert Baden-Powell was born in London on February 22, 1857. As a child, he already had an interest in many of the skills that would become associated with Scouting. At times, he would skip class to go spend time in the woods tracking and trapping animals. In 1876, he joined the British army as a career officer. At various times, he was stationed in South Africa, where he improved the Scouting skills of his youth. He frequently enjoyed leading scouting missions into enemy territory. A few years later, he wrote Aids to Scouting to help train military reconnaissance recruits. His most notable service was during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), which saw Baden-Powell command a force holding the town of Mafeking; the siege lasted 217 days. When his force was relieved, he was declared a British hero and promoted to Major General. When he returned to Britain, he found that his book Aids to Scouting had become very popular with teachers and youth groups.

Following his involvement with the Boys’ Brigade, Baden-Powell set out to rewrite Aids to Scouting for civilian use. While doing this, he set up a camp for 22 boys on Brownsea Island in August of 1907 to test his scouting ideas (including the patrol method). The next year, Scouting for Boys was published. The book was very popular upon release, and became one of the best-selling books in history. While Baden-Powell had hoped established groups would apply the knowledge, groups called Scout troops started springing up across Great Britain. Many requested assistance from Baden-Powell. By accident, the Scouting movement had begun.

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