Posted in Oldest, tagged Camp Naish, Felt, Kaw Council, Oldest Patches on August 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Previously I wrote about a felt star patch used by Troop 7 for Camp Naish attendance in 1934. At some point in the following years Camp Naish issued its first camp patch. The early patches are simple diamond-shaped patches with an N and a two digit year. Here are some examples:
Note that the images (scanned from Patches of Camp Theodore Naish, Andy Dubill) shown are not consecutive in year (missing 38).
This begs the following questions:
Posted in Oldest, tagged Camp Naish, Kaw Council, Oldest Patches on August 18, 2010| 3 Comments »
Camp patches, particularly the old felt type, are popular items among collectors. I find some of them pretty fascinating in their design and construction, particularly those that have multiple pieces layered together rather than a screen print design. Andy Dubill put together a collection of images of Camp Naish patches called The Patches of Camp Theodore Naish which has some nice old felt camp patches. The oldest Camp Naish-related issue appears to be a troop-issued felt star from Troop 7 from Kansas City, Kansas:
This one was used in 1934, but was it the first year they used the stars?
Since there were many other troops camping at Naish during its early days, including my own Troop 86, it makes me wonder if there are other troop-issued felt patches or neckerchiefs from this time. Ask your grandpa and your great-grandpa and let me know what you find out.
Posted in Naish, tagged Camp Naish, Heart of America Council, Kaw Council on July 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
It seems that since the early days of Boy Scout camps, there has been a need to recognize those campers that return for year after year. In some of the early felt camp patches there are patches that state, 1st year camper, 2nd year camper, 3rd year camper, or something similar. An alternative, and the system used for Camp Naish, is the rocker. There are five eras of rockers. The first is a chevron-type that typically goes with the Daniel Boone or Frontiersman camp patch. The chevron is a red bar that went below the camp patch. These were used from around 1941-1944.
A camper from this time period indicated that there was also a white version of this chevron that was used for a winter camping event held at Camp Naish around 1941 or 1942. Does anyone have additional information about this event?
The next type is the red and green twill variety. These were used from 1945-1950 with the early white twill versions of the Camp Naish patch.
Following that is the white and red twill variety. These were used from 1951-1962 An were used with later versions of the white twill of the Camp Naish patch.
Up next is the green and red twill. These were used from 1963-1977 with the green twill versions of the Camp Naish patch.
The current era is white and red twill again. These have been used since 1978.
These have a more uniform font than the previous white and red twill versions and typically have plastic backing.
Camp Naish is not the only Camp to use the rockers, there are many other versions out there with alternate color schemes. Also, there have been other special-issue rockers for Camp Naish, including outpost versions, that I’ll post about later.
Keep on rockin’.
Posted in Old Camps, tagged Kaw Council, Old Camps on July 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
My Boy Scout career began with Troop 86 in Olathe, Kansas. Although I don’t attend any meetings these days, my scouting registration is still through the troop. We celebrated our 75th anniversary in 2005 and as part of the celebration a book was put together about the history of the troop, aptly titled, “Troop 86 History.”
The book includes the text from several newspaper articles recounting the beginnings of scouting in Olathe. One article from The Olathe Mirror dated July 24, 1930 caught my attention. It reads:
Raise Funds for Boy Scouts
“Camp George” Algire located West of Olathe
Permanent Cabins to be Erected
…”Camp George Algire” is a beautiful plat of 40 acres situated on the Creek (Cedar Creek) 4 1/2 miles west of Olathe on the newly chatted road. F.W. Sickles who constructed a new bridge at this point reports a stream of water was encountered 8 feet below the surface…This means that the swimming pool which is to be built will have an abundant flow of fresh, cool, water at all times. Permanent cabins are to be built for the three Olathe troops and the Deaf School. The camp is to be thrown open for the use of all Boy Scout Troops in Johnson County and it is certain we will have boys in camp at all times during the camping season.
Sounds promising, right? Well, sadly the book states that although several campouts were held on the land, a few months later the property was sold and no further plans were carried out.
I did a little searching and found the location of the camp. The Johnson County Historical Society has digitized old atlases of the county. Here is a view of the general area mentioned in the article.
The northeast portion of section 31 is labeled Willard Algire. The northern boundary is 135th Street or Santa Fe Street in Olathe. This is also known as Prairie Center Road. It is not clear weather Willard was George’s father or if the “W” in G.W. Algire stands for “Willard”. The atlas also indicates that the property is 160 acres, while the camp is listed as 40 acres. A portion of the property may have been sold between 1922 (date of the atlas) and 1930 (date of the article).
Here’s the location of the property from Google Maps:
Of particular interest to me is that house where I grew up in Olathe is a little less than three miles from Camp George Algire.
This begs the question, are there more Boy Scout Camps in the Kansas City area that were short lived?
Posted in Jamboree, Kaw Council, KCAC, tagged Jamboree, Kansas City Area Council, Kaw Council on June 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »
There was a time when I collected a lot of Jamboree items, specifically 1969 National Jamboree items. I was initially drawn to it by the colorful pocket patch and jacket patch, but it blossomed from there. I had the trivet, the salt and pepper shakers, the aquatic staff hat, the sweater guard, the souvenir neckerchief, the commemorative 16mm film, the 35mm slides, baggage tags, wide game cards, jamboree troop flag. I thought all of that stuff was great, but my favorite items were the contingent neckerchiefs and patches from local councils. Well, I’ve gotten rid of most of the jamboree trinkets and curios, but I still have a few items from the Kansas City area. First is the neckerchief patch used by Kaw Council troops:
I used to have one of these on neckerchiefs (orange with black piping, see below) and I’ve seen a couple of other colors (one green, one salmon, and one yellow). My guess is that the different colors were used by different Jamboree troops from Kaw Council. The design is a little goofy, but it is an interesting piece.
Also, I kept two items from Kansas City Area Council. One is a neckerchief:
For other Jamborees, I’ve seen multiple color variations for Kansas City Area Council Neckerchiefs. As with their Kaw Council counterparts, I assume these are for multiple troops.
The last item is a small leather patch (approx 2″ tall):
I am not sure how this was used. It could have been given away from a booth by the Scouts or distributed in some other way. Did anyone attend the Jamboree?
I know of some other Kaw Council/KCAC contingent items from different Jamborees (some not in my collection). I’ll try to dig up some more images to share.
Posted in Kaw Council, Naish, Oldest, tagged Camp Naish, Kaw Council, Neckerchief on June 15, 2010| 2 Comments »
This week we have a couple of early Camp Naish staff neckerchiefs.
The 1944 edition is the earliest I’ve seen, but the 1945 is definitely the most intriguing I’ve seen. The 1944 variety is based on a BSA standard issue neckerchief with hand stitched embroidery added to identify it as a staff neckerchief. This one is a very dark green with red text:
My parents found this one at a local flea market in with some other scout stuff. Keep your eyes peeled, you never know what you might find!
The 1945 version (picture scanned from The Patches of Camp Theodore Naish compiled by Andy Dubill) includes the sought after “Frontiersman” Camp Naish patch and is in near mint condition with a nice look to it.
1945 Camp Staff Neckerchief with Daniel Boone patch
In looking at camp staff photos compiled by the Heart of America Council Camp Staff Alumni Association, there were only 16 members on staff in 1945, each would be pretty hard to come by.
Additionally, Camp Naish staff neckerchiefs can be viewed at campnaish.org. Also, the Heart of America Council Camp Staff Alumni Association is gathering images of all Camp Staff neckerchiefs from Naish, Bartle and Rotary. I can put you in contact with the person leading that effort if you have additional neckerchief images.
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I just communicated with the lead person on this project and they need images from the following years:
1946-50, 64, 66, 68,70-72, 91-92, any after 1996
Do you have an earlier Camp Naish staff neckerchief?
Do you have any neckerchiefs from 1946-1949?
If so, I’d like to get an image of them.
Thanks!
Posted in Kaw Council, Naish, Uncategorized, tagged Kaw Council, Naish, Old Uniforms on June 8, 2010|
As a collector, I have always been interested in seeing the early uniforms with patches and activity badges. Up this week is a unique example of a uniform from the 1940s. If each bar is represents one year returning to camp, this camper started camping at Naish in 1941 (if you assume the Daniel Boone patch also represents one year at camp) and camped through 1947.
But wait! The uniform was procured on eBay and when the winner opened the package, he inspected the pockets and found two more rockers, a 1948 and a 1949, that were not sewn to the shirt!
A fine example of a long-time camper from Camp Naish. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any identifying information included with the shirt. No doubt, this was a scout or scouter with a lot of stories to tell.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Camp Naish, Kaw Council, Neckerchiefs on June 1, 2010|
At the Kansas City Trade-O-Ree in February 2009, Dave Evans had a couple of interesting neckerchiefs that he picked up at an estate sale:
1976 Camp Site Shawnee
Neither neckerchief appears to be professionally made judging by the quality and definition in the design. They both appear to be made of a muslin material. The 1975 neckerchief, complete with “Sioux” typo appears to be screen printed. It is also not clear if these were made by a troop that camped in these sites or if all campsites had specific neckerchiefs during this time period. Have you seen something similar? Do you remember getting one as a camper?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Camp Naish, Kaw Council, Prairie Village on May 11, 2010|
As I wrote a few weeks ago, my dad attended Camp Naish with Troop 299 of Prairie Village, Kansas from 1960-1962. Following is a scan of his camp information packet provided by his troop from 1960. Click on each image for a larger version.
Opening page with Camp Naish “TN” brand and Troop 299 logo (plus my dad’s name typed on a small piece of paper):
Important songs to know for camp, all of which are still used today:
Dos and Don’ts
Finally, What to Bring to Camp – complete with my dad’s checkmarks, the old camp address and a warning from the Council Health and Safety Committee that NO WATERMELONS are permitted at camp. Why?
How many scouts used a straw tick mattress at camp this summer?
Posted in Outpost, tagged Camp Naish, Kaw Council, Outpost on May 4, 2010|
This week we have two interesting Outpost patches that I picked up at an auction a while back. They are Kaw Outpost patches awarded to campers that participated in the program at Camp Naish. As with many other camps, the leadership at Camp Naish tried various programs to attract older scouts back to camp with interesting activities. These patches date to the early 1960s and were used following the outpost rockers.
I am not sure how long these patches were used for the program or if there is any significance between the color schemes.
If you have any information about the patches, drop me a line.
Broad Kaw Valley 
