Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts 100 years ago Monday. Low’s idea for the Girl Scouts came after sitting next to Boy Scouts founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell at a luncheon in London. He lamented to her that many young women were attempting to join and he didn’t know what to do. When Low returned to Savannah, Ga., some months later, legend has it that she telephoned her cousin and said: “Come right over! I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!” Take a look back through images of some of the original Girl Scouts. Here, Low presents a Golden Eaglet, the highest award in Girl Scouting, in the early 1920s.
Girl Scouts of the USA/National Historic Preservation Center.
The Original Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts prepare for a footrace in 1912, the first year of the organization’s existence. From the beginning, Low emphasized the importance of outdoor activities.
Girl Scouts of the USA/ National Historic Preservation Center.
Off to Camp
Summer camp was a huge part of the Girl Scout experience. Here, girls board a bus in the early 1920s.
Girl Scouts of the USA/ National Historic Preservation Center.
Camp 1919
Sleeping in tents was a new experience for most of the girls. “When all the supper dishes are dried … the girls gather around the open campfire. Tales of the adventures of other scouts, Lewis and Clarke and Daniel Boone, are told. But everybody is yawning and glad to go to bed,” explains an article outlining the Girl Scout experience in the New York Times around this time.
Harris & Ewing Collection/Library of Congress.
A Rapidly Growing Group
Girl Scouts team up to preserve fruits and vegetable in response to a food shortage in 1917. By then there were 10,000 members organized in 328 cities. That same year, Low declared, “One of the reasons for the remarkable growth of the movement lies in the fact that the Scouts have lived up to their motto of being ‘prepared.’ … American women now wish to make themselves useful members of society, and look with admiration and respect upon the troops of young girls who always know things they should know to help their country.”
Girl Scouts of the USA /National Historic Preservation Center.
“Farmerettes” Harvesting Crops, 1919
An article in the New York Times a few years later explained the concept: “The Girl Scout must learn how to take care of herself in the woods. She must be able to give first aid in case of accident, know how to buy thriftfully and have some productive occupation.”
Harris & Ewing Collection/Library of Congress.
Archery, 1919
Competition was as integral piece of the Girl Scouts. Just about every activity at camp was an opportunity to win a badge. Early badge titles included “bird hunter, child nurse, dressmaker, farmer, first aid, gardener, handy-woman, health winner, home maker, home nurse, musician, pioneer, signaler, swimmer, star gazer, photographer, path finder, electrician, dancer, drummer, cook, citizen.”
Harris & Ewing Collection/Library of Congress.
Removing the Arrow, 1919
National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress.
Target Practice, 1920
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress).
Construction, circa 1920
Girl Scouts build a hut at Camp Juliette Low in Cloudland, Ga., in the 1920s.
Girl Scouts of the USA/National Historic Preservation Center.
Cooking by the River, 1920
There was extra motivation for each task, a New York Times article on Scout life outlined. “Each bit of work, from paring potatoes to catching a butterfly, is play to the girls, because it will count toward getting some of the coveted merit badges … The badge is sewn onto the right sleeve of the uniform. When twenty-one have been achieved, their proud professor is invested with the highest reward that a girl scout can receive—the Badge of the Golden Eaglet.”
Herbert A. French/Library of Congress
Flag Duty, 1920
Courtesy Library of Congress.
Singing Brownies, 1920
By 1920, there were 500,000 Girl Scouts in 26 countries. As younger girls pushed to join the Girl Scouts, the Brownies were founded.
Girl Scouts of the USA/National Historic Preservation Center.
Playing Nurse to a Pup
Scouts could obtain a “home nurse” badge. Dogs, apparently, could be patients. An article explained, “Woman’s most ancient form of service was as home-maker, nurse and mother. Scouting instills the spirit of play into all the drudging tasks of the household. More than one-fourth the number of merit badges directly relate in subject to women’s service in the home.”
As Girl Scouts nationwide celebrate the 100th anniversary of their beloved organization, there has been a mild uptick in interestin the inner workings of cookie-selling, life-skills-developing institution, especially in comparison to the Boy Scouts. While neither organization can be described as particularly political, the Girl Scouts really do seem more empowering and more tolerant than the Boy Scouts. A recent biography by Stacey Cordery about the founder of the Girl Scouts, titled Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts, sheds some light on how an organizations originally intended to be an auxiliary to the Boy Scouts has grown to overshadow it in many ways. From its earliest days, Girl Scouts of the USA was an ambitious organization that looked to expand the horizons of girls past what most of society thought possible.
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Juliette Gordon-Low, known to most people in her lifetime as Daisy, didn’t set out to be a woman ahead of her time, but stumbled into it by virtue of having too strong a personality to live in the background. Raised by a Civil War veteran and a socialite in Savannah, Ga., Gordon Low originally aspired to nothing more than settling down with William Mackay Low, her upper-crust British husband. However, her increasing deafness combined with her husband’s outrageous neglect and adultery pushed Gordon-Low to make a decision nearly unheard of in her time: She filed for divorce.
Juliette Gordon Low chats with American Delegation of Girl Scouts at England World Camp in 1924. (Girl Scouts of the USA/National Historic Preservation Center)
Her husband died prematurely, saving her from seeing the divorce to the end. But the bold step seems to have pushed Gordon-Low to shed the constraints typically put on women of her era. She traveled alone, forged lasting friendships with with men that didn’t result in marriage, and eventually decided that she had to do something to leave a lasting impression. Her unusual lifestyle led her to a close friendship with Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the British founder of the Boy Scouts and their auxiliary organization, the Girl Guides.
Inspired by those successful organizations, Gordon-Low decided to create a girl’s organization of her own in the United States, but her personality shaped a girls organization that was very different than the Girl Guides of Britain. Baden-Powell established the Girl Guides in way that explicitly didn’t threaten the Boy Scouts, placing a heavy emphasis on domestic labor and feminine arts. Gordon-Low instead pushed her charges to learn many of the skills associated with the Boy Scouts, including athletics, camping, and shooting. To reflect the more feminist leanings of this American organization, Gordon-Low insisted on calling it the Girl Scouts, instead of the more softly named Girl Guides.
The progressive spirit behind its founding has stayed with the Girl Scouts ever since. In the early days, the group reached out to poorer girls and girls from ethnic backgrounds that were often overlooked by community organizers. Martin Luther King Jr. described Girl Scouts as “a force for desegregation,” due to its integration efforts in the 1950s. Recently, the group has embraced tolerance for atheist and GLBT members, causing a conservative backlash. It’s not surprising that a group founded by an unconventional woman and a supporter of women’s suffrage would have such a legacy to this day.
Amanda Marcotte
