Endowments; Scouting (Youth activity); Girls--Societies and clubs; New York (N.Y.); Camp Fire Girls; Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Origin Information
1913-11-03
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
digitized microfilm
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 79
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
contains materials re:Wilson, Woodrow
The early growth of the Girl Guides movement in the United States was due to Gordon Low's extensive social connections, and she contributed early on by recruiting new members and leaders. She advertised in newspapers and magazines, and recruited her f amily and friends. Baden-Powell also put her in contact with people interested in Girl Guiding, including Louise Carnegie. After forming the first American troops, she described herself as 'deep in Girl Guides,' and by the next year, she had released the first American Girl Guides manual, titled How Girls Can Help Their Country, which was based on Scouting for Boys by Robert Baden-Powell and How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire by Agnes Baden-Powell... ...Many competing organizations for girls that claimed to be the closest model to Boy Scouting were forming, and Gordon Low believed that gaining support from prominent people would help legitimize her organization as the official sister organization to the Boy Scouts. Her biggest competition was the Camp Fire Girls, which was formed in part by James E. West, the Chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America, and a strong proponent of strict gender roles. In March 1912, Gordon Low wrote to the Camp Fire Girls, inviting them to merge into the Girl Guides, but they declined even after Baden-Powell suggested that they reconsider. West considered many of the activities that the Girl Guides participated in to be gender-inappropriate, and he was concerned that the public would question the masculinity of the Boy Scouts if they participated in similar activities... ...By the end of 1917, Gordon Low convinced Lou Henry Hoover to become the National Vice President of the Girl Scouts, and Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, President Woodrow Wilson's second wife, to become the Honorary President of the Girl Scouts..." [SOURCE: "Juliette Gordon Low." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliette_Gordon_Low. Accessed 24 Sep. 2018.]
Language
English
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University