Boy Rangers of America

Infobox WorldScouting
type = Organization
name = Boy Rangers of America


caption =
headquarters = New York City
country = United States
f-date = January 24, 1913
founder = Emerson Brooks
award-for =
members =
chiefscouttitle = Chief Guide
chiefscout =Emerson Brooks
owner =
website =The Boy Rangers of America was a Scouting program in the United States for boys ages 8 through 12. [cite web |url=http://www.vintagegirlscout.com/kcbra.htm |title=Boy Rangers of America |accessdate=2007-12-28 |date=2007-09-17 |work=Vintage Girl Scout Online Museum] [cite journal |last=Brooks |first=Emerson |title=Church and Community |journal=Homiletic Review |volume=LXXXIV |issue= |pages= |date=July–December 1922 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=N70PAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294&dq=%22boy+rangers+of+america%22&source=web&ots=biY9yD12CU&sig=cxy5yxzr7_MXDrW4TJ48YvWUCMQ#PPA294,M1 |accessdate=2007-12-28 |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls] It was organized in January 24, 1913 in Montclair, New Jersey by Emerson Brooks. Although independent of the Boy Scouts of America, it was the precursor of the BSA's Cubbing program now known as Cub Scouting.

As early as 1911, Ernest Thompson Seton, the Chief Scout of the BSA, had developed a program for the Boy Scouts of America named Cub Scouts of America that was never implemented. Chief Scout Executive James E. West felt that having BSA programs for younger boys under 12 would draw away boys from the core Scouting program. [cite book |author=Rowan, Edward L. |title=James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America |publisher=Las Vegas International Scouting Museum | date=2005 |isbn=0-9746479-1-8 ] Unofficial programs for younger boys started around this time, under names such as Junior Troops or Cadet Corps.

Emerson Brooks, a Boy Scout commissioner, started the Boy Rangers in 1913 and it came to the attention of the BSA. West encouraged further formation of the Boy Rangers of America, as an organization separate from the BSA, and they were incorporated in New York on March 6, 1918.

Boy Rangers were organized as a tribe of eight boys and an adult; up to six tribes would form a lodge. Rank levels were Paleface, Papoose, Brave, Hunter, Warrior and Hi-Pa-Nac. The programs used American Indian themes and the Great Laws were based on the BSA version of the Scout Law. The official publication was the magazine "The Boy Ranger".

The BSA obtained the rights to Baden-Powell's "The Wolf Cub Handbook" in 1916 and used it in unofficial Wolf Cub programs starting in 1918. The BSA finally began some experimental Cubbing units in 1928 and in 1930 the BSA began registering the first Cubbing packs. Many Boy Ranger lodges converted to Cubbing and the Indian themes of the Boy Rangers were incorporated into early Cubbing programs.

Membership numbers are difficult to determine. Some sources state that "at its height" in the 1920s, the Boy Rangers had over 8,000 members in over 700 lodges throughout 47 states, [*cite book |author=Peterson, Robert W. |title=The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure |publisher=American Heritage | date=1984 |isbn=0-8281-1173-1 ] [cite web |url=http://www.southoldhistoricalsociety.org/pinecrest_dunes.htm |title=Pinecrest Dunes |accessdate=2007-12-28 |date=2006-07-17 |work=Southold Historical Society] while another states they had 1039 lodges in 1940. [cite journal | title =Offices for Boy Rangers | journal =The New York Times | date =April 17, 1940 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=F40A15FC3954117A93C5A8178FD85F448485F9 | accessdate =2007-12-29 ] When Emerson Brooks died in 1948, his obituary claimed "200,000 members in forty states and several foreign countries." [cite journal |title =Emerson Brooks, Lead Boy Rangers |journal =The New York Times |date =Jul 24, 1948 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=F40A15FC3954117A93C5A8178FD85F448485F9 | accessdate =2008-01-04]

The final dissolution of the Boy Rangers is also difficult to determine. Some sources state that they merged into the BSA with the birth of Cubbing in 1930, but other sources show that the Boy Rangers survived well into the 1940s; the "New York Times" announced that Lewis Lawes became the president of the Boy Rangers in 1941. [cite journal | title =Lawes Heads Boys Group | journal =The New York Times | date =September 17, 1941 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40712FD3D5E17738DDDAE0994D1405B8188F1D3 | accessdate =2007-12-28 ] The Great Laws survive as a Cub Scout song that is sung to the tune of "Yankee Doodle". [cite web |url=http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/song/song-502.asp |title=Trusty Tommy Song |accessdate=2007-12-28 |work=Boy Scout Trail]

References