As we have mentioned before, most of our “archives” is made up of Boxwell related material, but some of the material is related to the Council and Scouting in general. Depending on who the person the collection came from, there can be some real jewels. There can also be some smaller, simpler, more human pieces.
In 1944, a boy in Springfield, TN found an empty sack of money ($60!) and returned the sack to the bank. Likely a deposit bag, the bank’s name was printed on the side. The bank was then able to return the money and, in a nice twist, the Tennessean ran an article about it.
What the article did not say was that the boy was a Scout. It appears his Scoutmaster was none other than Beany Elam!
But the best part of the story–and our document this week–is that the Scout Executive himself, William J. Anderson, wrote the Scout a personal letter. Anderson praised the boy for doing the right thing and “exactly as I expected you would do.” For Anderson, “a Boy Scout could take no other course.”
Anderson ends with a simple post-script: “I hope to see you at camp Boxwell.” The whole scenario is Scouting at its best.
Carbon Copy of letter from William J. Anderson to Scout Clyde Alley
A nice article on _For the Good of the Program_ over in _The Wilson Post_. Order a paperback copy at amazon.com. Or if you would liked a signed hard copy or a personal visit/talk at your troop meeting this fall, reach out to virtual.boxwell@gmail.com.
“Camp Boxwell Reunion brings back memories for Staff:
Something a little different this week. Our “From the Archives” post is actually an “In the News” post, but instead of a newspaper article, we bring you some video journalism.
Did you realize there was a news report on the 2014 Staff Reunion? There was. The video was apparently posted on October 3, 2016, but the interviews and footage all come from the day itself, Saturday, July 5, 2014.
You’ll see lots of friendly faces here as you watch. Richard Britnell, John Neal, Bryan Doersam, Charlie Ray Smith, and Lisa and Cindy Human are just some of the friendly faces you’ll catch here.
As a neat side note, Larry McCormack, who gets the byline for the piece, is the husband of Lisa Human McCormack, daughter of former Reservation Director Ed Human. The ties that bind us together are many and varied!