National Scouting Museum

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National Scouting Museum
National Scouting Museum, 2017 Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico.jpg
Location17 Deer Run Road
Cimarron, New Mexico
Coordinates 36°27′19″N104°57′21″W / 36.455333°N 104.955703°W / 36.455333; -104.955703
Founded1959
Website
National Scouting Museum
WikiProject Scouting fleur-de-lis dark.svg  Scouting portal

The National Scouting Museum is the official museum of the Boy Scouts of America. [1]

Contents

Background

The museum was first opened in 1959 in North Brunswick, New Jersey as the Johnston Memorial Museum. [2] With the relocation of the Boy Scouts of America National Headquarters from New Jersey to Texas, the museum closed in 1979. [3]

In 1986 the museum reopened on the campus of Murray State University in western Kentucky. [4] Museum officials had predicted that 120,000 people annually would visit the Kentucky location, but by the late 1990s yearly attendance was under 20,000. [5]

In October 2002 the museum moved to Irving, Texas, across the road from the Boy Scouts of America National Headquarters. The Irving museum closed in preparation for its move to Philmont on September 4, 2017. [6]

On May 29, 2018 the museum reopened at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico, with a grand opening on September 15, 2018. [2] [7] [8] [9]

Exhibits

The National Scouting Museum contains two large exhibit halls.

Exhibit Hall A focuses on the history of the Boy Scouts of America, including displays that feature historic camping gear, uniforms, merit badges, and artwork. The gallery also has sections dedicated to the history of the Order of the Arrow, the first Eagle Scout award, Scout Jamborees, notable Scouts, service projects, and BSA Founders Robert Baden-Powell, Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, William D. Boyce, and James E. West. [10]

Exhibit Hall B focuses on the history of Philmont Scout Ranch and the Southwest, including displays that feature a 3D topographical map of the ranch, weapons and firearms, an historic Santa Fe Trail stage wagon, Native American pottery and basketry, and artwork by Ernest Thompson Seton. The gallery also has sections dedicated to the history of local industries like lumber, mining, railroads, and ranching. [11]

The museum's main lobby features a small exhibit on Scouting in outer space and Antarctica, as well as artwork that includes a 1914 Boy Scout advertising billboard from Mt. Gilead, Ohio, a bronze plaque of the Scout Oath and Law, and a bronze statue titled The Ideal Scout by R. Tait McKenzie.

The museum is home to a collection of over 600,000 artifacts that tell the story of the Boy Scouts of America, Philmont Scout Ranch, and the Southwest Region. [12]

Seton Memorial Library

Housed within the National Scouting Museum, the Seton Memorial Library contains the library of Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. This research library contains Seton's personal collection and an extensive collection of volumes pertaining to western lore and the history of the area. In addition to the book collection itself, the library also features a large reading room, visiting scholar research room, and archive.

The National Scouting Museum also holds Seton's art, anthropology, and natural history collections that were donated by Julia Seton to the former Philmont Museum (also known as the Seton Museum) in 1967 before its merger with the National Scouting Museum in 2018. Many items from the Seton Collections can be seen on display in the library and in Gallery B. [13]

Other facilities

The National Scouting Museum features the 88-person Carl & Janice Marchetti Order of the Arrow Conference Room, along with a large gift shop that sells books, artwork, Southwestern jewelry, and other mementos.

The National Scouting Museum is one of four museums administered by Philmont's Museum Department. The other three include the Villa Philmonte, the Kit Carson Museum at Rayado, New Mexico, and the Chase Ranch.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Thompson Seton</span> American writer and artist (1860–1946)

Ernest Thompson Seton was an English-born Canadian-American author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians in 1902, and one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in New Mexico</span>

Scouting in New Mexico has had a rich and colorful history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. The state is home to the Philmont Scout Ranch.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cimarron, New Mexico</span> Village in New Mexico, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philmont Scout Ranch</span> Large ranch for youth high adventure in New Mexico, US

Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch located in Colfax County, New Mexico, near the village of Cimarron; it covers 140,177 acres (56,728 ha) of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the east side of the Cimarron Range of the Rocky Mountains. Donated by oil baron Waite Phillips, the ranch is owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America. It is a National High Adventure Base where crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking treks and other outdoor activities. By land area, it is one of the largest youth camps in the world. During the 2019 season, between June 8 and August 22, an estimated 24,000 Scouts and adult leaders backpacked through the Ranch's extensive backcountry. That same year 1,302 staff were responsible for the Ranch's summer operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Carter Beard</span> American artist and writer (1850–1941)

Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, Georgist and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

<i>Scout Life</i> American magazine

Scout Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its target readers are children between the ages of 6 and 18. The magazine‘s headquarters are in Irving, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Philmonte</span> United States historic place

The Villa Philmonte is a large ranch home located outside of Cimarron, New Mexico, on Philmont Scout Ranch, owned by the Boy Scouts of America. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 as part of Villa Philmonte Historic District, which included two contributing buildings, two contributing structures, and two contributing sites. Those resources are the Villa Philmonte, an associated guesthouse, two courtyards, and a pool, pergola and pond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Youth Leadership Training</span>

National Youth Leadership Training, often called NYLT, is the current youth leadership development training offered by the Boy Scouts of America. The program is conducted at the council level over six days for Scouts, Venturers, and Sea Scouts. The program has been open to all genders since 2010. This training is a part of the national organization's leadership training program and is designed to mirror themes found in Woodbadge, which is the BSA program for adult leadership training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philmont Training Center</span> Boy Scouts of America site

The Philmont Training Center (PTC), located at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, has been the National Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) since 1950. The PTC offers week-long training conferences from June through September for council, district, and unit volunteers, BSA professionals, and youth leaders with several conferences taking place each week. The PTC also offers activities for family members including hikes throughout the week and a week-long backpacking program called a Mountain Trek for youth ages 14 to 20.

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High Adventure Bases of the Boy Scouts of America are outdoor recreation facilities located in several locales in North America operated by the Boy Scouts of America at the organization's national level. Each facility offers wilderness programs and training that could include wilderness canoeing, wilderness backpacking trips, or sailing, and provide opportunities for Scouts to earn the 50-Miler Award. These bases are administered by the High Adventure Division of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Chase Ranch Cimarron, New Mexico was founded in 1867 by Manly and Theresa Chase. As pioneers, from Wisconsin by way of Colorado, they crossed the Raton Pass in a covered wagon and establish a new home in New Mexico. Manly Chase purchased the land from Lucien Maxwell, part of the Maxwell Land Grant. The ranch is near the Ponil Creek, a mile north of the Cimarron River, not far from the Santa Fe Trail. The Ranch included the old Kit Carson homestead. Before the arrival of pioneers, the land was populated by Apaches and Ute people. Manly provided the local Native Americans with beef, creating peaceful coexistence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson</span> American author and suffragist

Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson was an American writer and suffragist.

Peter M. Fillerup was an American sculptor. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he attended Brigham Young University–Idaho and Brigham Young University in Provo. He was trained by Utah sculptor Avard Fairbanks. He designed a sculpture of Porter Rockwell, who served on the Council of Fifty, as well as lighting fixtures for 20 LDS temples, including the Payson Utah Temple and the Lima Peru Temple. In 1997, he designed the Hilda Erickson Memorial Statue, a public statue in memory of all American pioneers in Grantsville, Utah.

References

  1. Wendell, Bryan (September 26, 2018). "See inside the new National Scouting Museum at Philmont Scout Ranch". Scouting Magazine. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "The Boy Scouts of America Announces Relocation of National Scouting Museum to Iconic Philmont Scout Ranch" (Press release). Irving, Texas: Boy Scouts of America. December 5, 2016. Archived from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  3. "Boy Scouts Open a Museum in Kentucky". Chicago Tribune. June 29, 1986.
  4. "National Scouting Museum to Get New High-Tech Home in Kentucky". Lexington Herald-Leader. May 23, 1986.
  5. "National Scouting Museum Moves To Texas". Victoria Advocate. Associated Press. November 24, 2000.
  6. "National Scouting Museum Officially Opens With Grand Opening Celebration; Crowds Scout Out Dallas/Fort Worth's Newest Family Attraction". PR Newswire. October 21, 2002.
  7. "National Scouting Museum to Move to Philmont". Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  8. "National Scouting Museum". Tour Texas. AJR Media Group. Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  9. "Museums". www.philmontscoutranch.org. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  10. "Museums". www.philmontscoutranch.org. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  11. "Museums". www.philmontscoutranch.org. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  12. "Museums". www.philmontscoutranch.org. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  13. "Seton Memorial Library". www.philmontscoutranch.org. Retrieved February 4, 2022.