Getting Together: 80 Years of Jamborees and Roundups – New at North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting

In 1937, the BSA held its first National Jamboree in Washington, DC. Although the first National Jamboree had originally been scheduled for 1935, a polio scare in the Nation’s Capital postponed it until that time.

Since then the BSA has gathered Scouts from around the country 18 times, and the 19th such gathering was held in July at the Summit Bechtel Family Reserve in West Virginia. At each of these Jamborees, Scouts from Northern Star Council, and its predecessor councils, have been in attendance in large numbers.

The Girl Scouts of the USA held a similar gathering four times between 1956 and 1965, called the Senior Girl Scout Roundup. These events were aimed at older (‘Senior’) Girl Scouts.

The North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting has opened a new exhibition entitled “Getting Together:  80 Years of Jamborees and Roundups”, which will run through the end of the year. As part of the programming surrounding this exhibition, the museum will host Jamboree and Roundup reunions. The Jamboree reunions will be held in September, and will be for participants in any National Jamboree or anyone interested in the history of the Jamborees and Scouting. During these Reunions, we will offer pop-up exhibits, showing more Jamboree material, and statistics on each. We will be interested in collecting photos, letters sent home, or journals you may still have (we can scan if you are reluctant to give up your original).

We hope that those of you who attended this summer’s Jamboree will stop by the museum to relive your adventure, and those of you who have attended Jamborees past will come to share some of your own experiences, and hear what others’ experiences have been like.

The Reunions will be held on September 16 and September 30 from 1-4PM each day. Check the museum’s website:  www.nssm.org for further information, or in Lake Minnetonka District you can contact Jim Lindfors (NSSM Member and 1977 Jamboree participant) at: [email protected] for information on the museum and its great programs.

Jim Lindfors
[email protected]