Happy Birthday, Lady Baden-Powell!

Girl Scouts and Girl Guides in 146 countries celebrate February 22 as World Thinking Day. They learn about their counterparts in other countries and study one theme worldwide. For 2018, the theme is “Impact.”

Impact World Thinking Day square 2018Thinking Day was established in 1926 as part of the Fifth World Conference held at Camp Edith Macy in New York state.

 

Macy VIPs
The Baden-Powells and Juliette Low at the Fifth World Conference

 

 

 

The date was chosen because it was the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, and his wife, Olave Baden-Powell, the world chief guide. (Different years, though; they were born 32 years apart!)

I recently learned that between 1930 and 1970, Lady Baden-Powell flew 487,777 miles across the globe. That’s a pretty impressive feat, and I’d definitely like some of those frequent flyer miles!

These trips included the opening ceremonies for Our Chalet, Our Cabana, and Sangam, as well as to Washington DC for the 50th anniversary of Girl Scouting celebration in 1962.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This Thinking Day greeting card, from 1968, seems particularly appropriate for this enthusiastic ambassador of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting.

 

1968 WTD Card
Thinking Day card from 1968 (Girl Guide History Tidbits)

 

Happy Birthday to Lady (and Lord) Baden-Powell!

©2018 Ann Robertson

DC Girl Scouts in Cold War Propaganda?

My name is Miya Carey, and I am a doctoral candidate in history at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. Last month, I had the pleasure of spending a week at the new Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital History Center in Frederick, MD, completing the last bit of my dissertation research. My project looks at the shifting constructions and experiences of black girlhood in Washington, DC from the 1930s to the 1960s through an examination of African American and interracial girls’ organizations. One of the main organizations in my study is the Girl Scouts.

EthelGHarvey2
Ethel Harvey, GSCNC President, 1972-1978

I found many gems during this research trip, but one of the most fascinating was a photo album from the Ethel Harvey collection. Harvey was one of the most prominent leaders in the scouting movement in Washington, DC. She became the first African American to serve as president of any Girl Scout council. In 1961, she and Pansy Gregg, her co-leader and dear friend, traveled with their troop to Our Cabaña, a WAGGGS world center, in Cuernavaca, Mexico. [The same troop would visit Pax Lodge in London and Our Chalet in Switzerland in 1964.]

 

The most striking photographs in the album featured the scouts, who were all African American, dressed in their sharkskin “stewardess” uniforms and posed listening to record players, creating scrapbooks, and writing post cards. Following this series of photographs is a note that says, “photographs taken by USIA.” This note refers to the United States Information Agency, which President Eisenhower established in 1953 as the organ of U.S. public and cultural diplomacy. It is unclear how the USIA used these photographs, if they used them at all, but it is useful to speculate how these photographs could have been used, and why the USIA thought that photographing the scouts would further their goals.

MAY08AR12
Senior Troop 1027 (GSCNC Archives)

The agency’s main goal was to maintain the image of the U.S. abroad as the bastion of democracy and on the right side of the Cold War. However, this was a difficult task when images of racial violence and civil rights protest dominated international headlines, and revealed the cracks in America’s promise of democracy for all. The Our Cabaña photographs were taken after Little Rock, the start of the sit-in movement, the Freedom Rides, and numerous other civil rights struggles. The common thread linking each of these events is that young people were at the center of each.

MAY08AR13
Senior Troop 1027 (GSCNC Archives)

The scouts offered an alternative image of black childhood and young adulthood abroad. The image of black girlhood offered in these photographs is one that is both playful and patriotic. The scouts were doing typical teenage activities, such as listening to music, rather than being victims of racialized violence. They were proud members of the Girl Scouts, an organization that espoused patriotism and democracy, rather than young people marching against injustice. The USIA could use the figure of the black Girl Scout in American propaganda to demonstrate racial harmony, and counter the notion that the United States was in opposition to its black citizens, even if this was not completely true.

MAY08AR14
Senior Troop 1027 (GSCNC Archives)

I still have many questions about these photographs. How did the USIA come to photograph the scouts at Our Cabaña? Did the agency have a relationship with the Girl Scouts? Most importantly, what did the girls in the photograph think? Did they know the purpose of photographs and the USIA? I would suspect that when they embarked on their trip to Mexico, they saw it as a chance to experience a culture different from their own, rather than serving as ambassadors of the American model of democracy. Regardless, these photographs demonstrate the far-reaching and rich legacy of the Girl Scouts in American culture.

 

Thinking About the World Centres

In honor of World Thinking Day on February 22, the Nation’s Capital Archives and History Committee has created a display highlighting the four World Centres.  (Since the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is located in London, “centre” is the official spelling.)

Many committee members have visited one or more of the centres and shared some of their souvenirs.  (Alas, I haven’t been to any…yet!)  Most of the items came from Sandra Alexander, a member of the Friends of Our Cabana, and Joan Paull, who was the WAGGGS liaison in Washington, DC, for many years.

Committee members Joan Paull (left) and Ginger Holinka select items for display.
Committee members Joan Paull (left) and Ginger Holinka select items for display.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Our display highlights four original pen and ink sketches of the World Centers. They are signed “Chris Bachofer,” but I’m afraid I don’t know the story behind them, or how they came to be part of our collection. (Please let me know if you do!)

For more on the World Centres, see their websites: Pax Lodge, Our Cabana, Our Chalet, Sangam.