Scouts on Deck (c. 1911)

This lantern slide, "Scouts on Deck (c. 1911)," shows a group of boy scouts on the deck of a ship. They are clustered around another passenger and showing him an unidentified object. The boy scout closest to the camera is holding St. George’s Cross, a white flag with a red cross.According to older catalog records, this picture was taken as part of a Boy Scout trip from England to the Netherlands. One of the scoutmasters may have been James Archibald Kyle, who worked as Organizing Secretary of the southwest London District until 1909, when Baden-Powell appointed him the Secretary of the Official Boy Scouts Office. In this position, he organized the headquarters and developed the Equipment Department. For his work with the Association, Kyle was given the honorary title of Chief Scoutmaster. He also wrote “Band and Music for Boy Scouts,” “Firedrill for Boy Scouts,” and “Training Camps and Standing Camps for Boyscouts.” The Boy Scouts started around 1908, when Robert Baden-Powell, a Lieutenant-General in the English military, wrote a book entitled “Scouting for Boys.” Edgar M. Robinson (Springfield College class of 1901) involved the International Y.M.C.A. Training School (now known as Springfield College) with the fledgling Boy Scout movement in the United States around 1910. This item is a part of Springfield College’s series of lantern slides depicting a Boy Scout trip to Holland