By popular request, here is one more post on the Girl Scout Edith Macy Conference Center in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
I don’t know of a full listing of patches and pins other than from the old Vintage Girl Scout Online Museum, so many images are screen grabs from that site or eBay. Additional details may be downloaded from the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. Contact me if you have more information or images to add.
From Macy’s opening in May 1926, the center’s symbol has been the lamp of learning. This image has appeared on all Macy pins, most patches, and it has been the focal point of the traditional Macy pinning ceremony.
Anyone who participated in a Macy program received the lamp of knowledge pin. A pin exclusively for visitors was occasionally available as well.
Macy director and camping expert Kit Hammett purchased the small lamp used in ceremonies from 1962 to 2026.
In the early 1980s, a GSUSA staffer discovered this small china lamp in a Pennsylvania store and purchased the last 200. The mold was then destroyed. I think these were presented to people associated with Macy, although I bought mine on eBay!
Why the Lamp of Knowledge?
Prior to the Edith Macy Training School’s dedication in May 1926, national director Jane Deeter Rippin decided the school needed a distinctive symbol. She settled on the oil lamp, which had denoted learning since ancient Greece.
Elin Lindberg, one of the first staff members to be associated with Macy, tells this story about the first pin.
“Mrs. Rippin and I were working late one evening, about two weeks before the opening, when she said, Linnie, we need a camp pin. What shall it be? Ah! A symbol of the camp– The Lamp of Knowledge. You get it made right away. Have it so we can sell it for 75 cents, no more.” Linnie, with a pencil and paper in hand, stopped in at a movie on the way home from the office and made a sketch of the Lamp of Knowledge. (Remember this was always on the screen in connection with feature pictures.) The next morning, the Tree Medallic Company had the design and an order for 1,000 pins. In two weeks the delivery was made. We have a pin without any red tape or committee action.”
The Macy Lamp Pin
The pin has evolved over the years, but the basic pin is still bronze.
There will be a new pin for the 100th, although it will not likely be available for purchase until 2027.
Macy Patches
These require even more detective work. Some dates listed here come from specific events attended by other historians, others are estimated by comparing with official logos or stationary.
The Path Ahead
Near the end of the 1926 dedication, National President Sarah Louise Arnold declared:
This pin is a symbol of this place–the lamp which stands for light and truth …
We must carry always in our hearts the lamp whose light may guide the feet of youth. To force them to travel in our path we cannot. They are as right in their eagerness to glaze a trail for themselves as we were in our day. But may they never come to us to ask for help and find that our light has been snuffed out.” (Leader, March 1963)
As the Edith Macy Conference Center era comes to a close, Dean Arnold’s words still ring true. May no one ever “find that our light has been snuffed out.”
© 2026 Ann Robertson, writer, editor, Girl Scout historian, but NOT a Girl Scout employee.
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