|
Scouting at the World's Fair
1933-34 1939 GGIE 1939-40 NY MAIN PAGE 1962 Seattle 1964-65 NY 1967 Montreal Other World's Fairs and Expositions (What's New?) (Click on individual logo to travel directly to a particular fair or MAIN PAGE) (References)
|
|
|
A History in Memorabilia
Since the early days of the Scouting movement, Scouts have been involved in one way or another at World's Fairs. Many of the fairs held in North America during the twentieth century, have had Boy Scout service corps or encampments, and some have had Boy Scout exhibits as well. Scouts and scouters from around the country and the world have manned these exhibits and service corps/camps. In 1964, I was lucky enough to be a member of the 1964-65 New York World's Fair Scout Service Corps group from the Hudson Council, B.S.A. headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. We served at the Fair, along with other New Jersey Scouts during the first week of July of that year. We were housed at Fort Totten, a nearby U.S. Army facility . Each day, we were transported by bus to the Rodman Gate, one of the back gates of the fair, and we spent the day working in the Boy Scouts of America exhibit greeting visitors and giving demonstrations of scout skills or acting as "Service Scouts" escorting dignitaries or functioning as honor guards. One of the skills we taught was CPR and from what I remember, a lot of Fair goers were interested enough to stay around for the whole demonstration. We also ran campfires in the evening at the exhibit and many World's Fair visitors took the time to sit down in our small amphitheater and sing folksongs and enjoy the fun. Serving on the World's Fair Service Corps was a great opportunity. It gave us a chance to explore the Fair during our free time and to see far more of the Fair than the average visitor. It also allowed us to meet many wonderful people from around the world, some of them scouts or scouters and some of them average citizens enjoying a day at the fair. If the opportunity ever comes again for scouts to serve on a World's Fair Service Corps, I would encourage any scout to do so. It is a unique opportunity and shouldn't be missed if available. Each scout who was part of the World's Fair Service Corp in 1964 received a number of items to wear on their uniform to identify them as Service Corp members. This are the memorabilia which started me down the path to creating these pages. So click on one of the links below and start your journey to the WORLD'S FAIR
Enjoy the tour! 1933 Chicago's Century of Progress 1939 San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition To be continued……
This site does not contain a complete list of Scouting/World's Fair memorabilia but consists of items that I have been able to identify so far. If any of you know of additional items please let me know. If you have such items and can provide scans I would love to add them to the list. I have used the Standard Price Guide to U.S. Scouting Collectibles, © 1998 by George Cuhaj published by Krause Publications as a primary source document in developing this list. I thank George for the information. I have also added to it those items which I either have in my own collection or which I have knowledge of on good authority. Those items which have a "P" in the fourth column of the table are currently part of my own collection. Of course, I would also like to add the items I don't have to my collection so if you have some items I haven't mentioned or shown I'd like to hear from you. If you're interested in trading or selling some of those items I don’t have, I'd would love to talk.
This website developed and published by: James J. Miller, Sr.
 This Exhibitions and World Fairs site owned by James J. Miller, Sr..
[ Previous 5 Sites | Previous | Next | Next 5 Sites | Random Site | List Sites ]
|
