Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Council Collection:

An Inventory of their Records at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library (part 1 of 2)

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 Sam Houston Area Council Boy Scouts of America.

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.

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; for whatever reason, 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.

Restrictions

Use Restrictions

None

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Area Council Collection. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library

Acquisition Information

Donated by Boy Scouts of America, Sam Houston Area Council

Processing Information

Processed by Andrew Hempe, December 1998

Detailed Description