Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Council Records
Scope and Contents
The first part of the collection consists of unit files: Cub Packs, Scout Troops, Explorer Posts, Sea Scout Ships, Air Squadrons, and other senior scout units. They are organized by unit number, and are listed in numerical order. Items in these files consist of unit charter applications, applications to join the unit, unit rosters, and adult applications. The Boy Scout and Explorer files also contain Eagle Scout applications, Eagle Palms applications, and various other applications such as scout lifeguard applications and emergency service qualification applications.
It should be noted that the Cub Scout Packs and Explorer Posts are referred to by two numbers: A local number and a national number. For example, the Cub Scout Pack which was known locally as Pack 23 was given the number 3023 by the national office. The national unit numbers are given first, followed by the local number in parentheses. This does not apply to the Boy Scout Troops; they do not appear to have been assigned national unit numbers.
Following the unit rosters are administrative material for the Explorers, followed by rosters of adults involved in scouting at the unit, district, and council levels. Following this are council membership reports from 1947 to 1977. Following this are council financial records, records of various activities that scouts participated in, and materials used in writing a history of the Sam Houston Area Council in the early 1960's. Also included is material pertaining to professional scout staff, lists of financial donors, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks, and several reels of movie film of a trip to the 1929 World Jamboree in England.
Dates
- 1912-1977
Creator
- Boy Scouts of America. Sam Houston Area Council (Organization)
- Boy Scouts of America (Organization)
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish or reproduce materials from RG F 0007 Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Council Records must be obtained from the Houston Metropolitan Research Center or the appropriate copyright holder.
Historical Note
Scouting began in England in the first decade of the 20th century. It was originally intended to provide urban youth with outdoor skills and activities. Scouts were encouraged to be of service to their communities and improve themselves by living their lives according to a scout code of ethics.
William D. Boyce, an American visiting London in 1910, learned of scouting. He was so impressed with it that upon his return to the United States, he introduced it to this country. In fact, there were already several rival youth organizations in the U.S. at that time. Boyce formed a committee of youth leaders with the object of uniting the different organizations into one group, and to obtain a federal charter. The official birthday of the Boy Scouts of America is February 8, 1910. In 1916, Congress officially chartered the Boy Scouts.
Scouting began in Houston in September 1910 when Nelson Duller, a twelve-year-old boy, heard of the organization. He and several friends asked his father, David M. Duller, to help them become scouts.
The Houston Council was organized in 1913. The council name was later changed to the Houston Area Council Boy Scouts of America, and in 1938 to its current name, the Boy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council.
The Sam Houston Area Council covers the following counties: Harris, Ft. Bend, Wharton, Matagorda, Colorado, Austin, Waller, Washington, Burleson, Montgomery, Grimes, Walker, Madison, Brazos, and Robertson. The council is divided into 44 districts.
https://www.samhoustonbsa.org/
Extent
46.5 Linear Feet (45 boxes and some unprocessed materials)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Series List
- Series 1 Cub Scout Packs
- Series 2 Boy Scout Troops
- Series 3 Explorer Scout Posts
- Series 4 Sea Scout Ships
- Series 5 Air Scout Squadrons
- Series 6 Senior Units, Senior Outfits, Rover Crew, College Scouter Reserve
- Series 7 Explorer Scout administrative material
- Series 8 Veteran Scouts
- Series 9 Council Rosters
- Series 10 District Rosters
- Series 11 Membership Reports
- Series 12 Financial Records
- Series 13 Activities, awards, miscellaneous
- Series 13.1 Activities
- Series 13.2 Other
- Series 14 Historical Materials
- Series 15 Professional Staff
- Series 16 Card files
- Series 17 Newspaper clippings and scrapbooks
- Series 18 Motion Picture film, 1929 World Jamboree
Acquisition Information
Donated by Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Area Council beginning in 1978, with accruals in 1978 and 2014.
Digitized Materials
Digitized films from this collection on availalbe on the Houston Public Library Digital Archives at https://digital.houstonlibrary.org/film
Processing Information
Processed by Andrew Hempe, December 1998
- Boy Scouts -- Public relations Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Boy Scouts -- Texas Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Boy Scouts of America
- Boy Scouts of America. Sam Houston Area Council
- Cub Scouts -- Texas Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Eagle Scouts -- Texas Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Explorers (Boy Scouts) -- Texas Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Webelos -- Texas Subject Source: Lcnaf
- application forms Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- rosters Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Council Records
- Status
- Updates Needed
- Date
- February 3, 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- November 16, 2005: Edited with XMetal 3 by Tammy Jordan, according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions
- November 14, 2005: Document split into 2 parts by Andrew Hempe, due to large file size
- February 3, 2021: Revised for ArchivesSpace and TARO 2.0 by Matt Richardson
Repository Details
Part of the Houston History Research Center Repository
