She’s the fresh-faced young lady in a khaki pork-pie hat beaming in a vintage Girl Scout poster.
Her friendly face is also captured on a vintage pin-back button.
But who is this famous Girl Scout?
Sadly, this model Girl Scout has no name. She is the creation of popular artist and illustrator Lester Ralph (1877-1927).
Lester Ralph specialized in paintings of women and their pets.
The watercolor painting was first used on a poster for Girl Scout week in 1919. It was used for a variety of publicity purposes, but she is best known as the face of the 1924 “Buy a Brick” campaign.
As the Girl Scouts entered its second decade, the national headquarters had outgrown its space at 189 Lexington Avenue in New York City. Perhaps another factor in the decision to move was the neighborhood. In May 1922, thieves broke into the offices and stole nearly $10,000 worth of Girl Scout pins, watches, and uniforms. According to the New York Times, the robbers dropped their loot when “they were frightened off by a shooting in the neighborhood caused by other criminals working at cross purposes.”
In any case, by 1924 the organization was trying to raise $500,000 for a new building at 670 Lexington Avenue.
The national fund drive was chaired by popular mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart, who came up with the notion to sell “parts” of the new building. One brick cost $10, walls were slightly higher. Donors received the small button as an acknowledgement of their generosity.
Mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart, in the light-colored dress, had a Girl Scout honor guard greet guests when she gave a large tea at her Washington, DC, home on November 12, 1924 (Library of Congress photo)
The building campaign overlapped with the Girl Scouts’ acquisition of the model Little House in Washington, DC, causing considerable confusion on several fronts. Unaware that the Girl Scouts had already approached the Rockefeller Foundation for a donation toward the new headquarters, the regular operating budget, and American Girl magazine, Lida Hafford, director of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, contacted the very same foundation about funding a permanent home for the Little House.
National Director Jane Deeter Rippin shares her concerns with national president Lou Henry Hoover (GSUSA, NHPC Little House Collection)
Even the Girl Scouts national board of directors became befuddled over the matter, with some thinking the national headquarters was returning to Washington, DC, specifically to the Little House.
National President Lou Henry Hoover eventually came to the rescue. With a flurry of telegrams she clarified who was moving where, and she even put up her own money to physically tow the Little House to a permanent site just west of the White House.
Little House on rails for its trip from the National Mall to 1750 New York Avenue NW (GSCNC archives)
Throughout the administrative ordeal, our yellow brick Girl Scout never lost her confident smile, never slumped her shoulders in despair. Her image was repurposed for additional posters before being retired in 1928, following the death of the artist.
I think it is time this girl has a name, and I propose that from here on she be known as:
Dorothy, the yellow brick Girl Scout.
If we could just make ruby slippers part of the Girl Scout shoe collection…..
©2017, Ann Robertson