Throwback Thursdays Archives

This is why some Eagle Scouts didn’t have to earn Life or Star badges

November 29, 2018 13

In an odd twist, eight of the first nine Eagle Scouts earned neither Star nor Life recognition. That includes Arthur Eldred, the first ever Eagle Scout.

What Dick Van Dyke said about the BSA in 1971 still rings true

November 15, 2018 4

The actor talked with Scouting magazine about his time as a Boy Scout, his opinion of Scout leaders and the challenges of parenting in a fast-paced world.

Man finds treasure trove of long-lost Wood Badge documents

February 15, 2018 39

It’s been seven decades since July 31, 1948, when 29 men descended on Schiff Scout Reservation in New Jersey to learn Scout skills, Scoutcraft and pioneering at the first U.S. Wood Badge course.

Boyhood troop of President Gerald Ford and astronaut Roger Chaffee turns 100

January 25, 2018 3

Michigan Troop 215, which turns 100 years old this year, was the boyhood troop of astronaut Roger Chaffee and President Gerald Ford.

Without the Boy Scouts, Band-Aids might not have stuck around

January 18, 2018 5

Sales of Band-Aids were flagging until Johnson & Johnson incorporated them into Boy Scout first-aid kits. This helped families become more comfortable with the product, which became a household name.

Was this quote attributed to Groucho Marx actually published in Boys’ Life first?

January 11, 2018 1

A popular quote commonly attributed to comedian Groucho Marx might have appeared first in the popular “Think and Grin” jokes section of Boys’ Life magazine two decades earlier.

Five Scout camps named for fascinatingly famous people in history

November 16, 2017 41

An icon of the American West, the longtime president of Coca-Cola and a man who died in the sinking of the Lusitania — all have Scout camps named for them.

On opposite sides of barbed-wire fence, an enduring friendship formed in Scouting

August 24, 2017 4

Norman Mineta and Alan Simpson became fast friends inside the internment camp, bonding over their shared love of comics, silly stories and Scouting.

Home once owned by BSA founder William D. Boyce sells for $479,000

August 24, 2017 7

What makes this piece of Michigan real estate so special is the fact it was once owned by William D. Boyce, one of the founders of the BSA.

The history of Scouting and s’mores

August 10, 2017 17

Did you know that the tradition of Scouts browning marshmallows over a fire began well before s’mores blazed onto the scene in 1927?