Artifact of the Week 20240712 - Boy Rangers of America

When James E. West was hired as the Executive Secretary of the Boy Scouts of America, he was focused on one thing: developing a program to build character, physical fitness, and citizenship in boys ages 12-15. In his mind, this was the prime age for influencing a young mind and shaping the boy into the man American Society needed. Others felt the BSA needed to develop a program to start earlier than 12 years old. A Scout Commissioner in Montclair, New Jersey, developed an American Indian-themed program called the Boy Rangers that provided a program to 8 to 12-year-old boys with the intention that once they aged out of the Boy Rangers, they could seamlessly move into one of the existing programs such as the BSA, the YMCA, The Woodcraft League, and others. The Boy Rangers of America served as the precursor to the Cub Scout program introduced in the 1930s and was folded into the BSA by 1933.