Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week -
March 17, 2002
By Jan Buffington
Vigo County Historical Society
Take a hike to museum and scout out display
Girl Scouts of the USA celebrates its 90th anniversary this month. In observance of that celebration, the Vigo County Historical Museum offers a display of uniforms from 1918 through 2002.
When Girl Scouts first began in 1912 in Savannah, Ga., the homemade, ankle-length uniforms were dark blue duck. The 18 girls who formed Juliette Gordon Low’s first troop were eager to go camping and hiking through the woods and play basketball on a curtained-off court in their new bloomers. But because the orange Georgia clay easily stained the blue material, the uniform was changed to ready-made khaki in 1914. It wasn’t until 1928 that green became the color for a Girl Scout uniform.
To keep up with fashion, styles, colors and accessories have changed some, too. The first few styles were long-sleeved where the badges were sewn. When short sleeves became the uniform, a sash provided a standard place to sew on badges.
It is hard to notice some of the subtle changes made on the uniform and accessories. For instance, the Girl Scout pin started out with three stars on the shield, went to seven stars in the 1920s then to four stars until the new logo was created.
Many different accessories are in this display. Scouts may have purchased a dress, skirt, blouse, T-shirt, slacks, shorts, socks, “necker” (neck scarf), jewelry, hat, beanie, sash, vest, belt and more. The list goes on and on. In the back hall of the second floor, you will find the display of numerous Girl Scout uniforms. One case holds the oldest ones with the newest uniforms displayed in the schoolroom. Each uniform sports badges, pins and accessories.
The uniform pictures was worn by Ingrid Stoelting in the early 1960s.
Stop by the museum and help Girl Scouts USA celebrate 90 years of Low’s dream. She envisioned that her organization would be a vehicle by which girls could be brought out of their cloistered home environments to serve their community and experience the open air. Her dream grew from one troop of 18 girls to a nationwide organization with a membership of more than 400,000 girls with five age levels and adult leadership.
Happy Birthday Girl Scouts!
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Web site: http://indstate.edu/community/vchs.