Month: December 2011

Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low: Founder of the Girl Scouts

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As a young Southern debutante, Juliette Gordon Low seemed to have little purpose in life other than entertaining herself and her friends. At age fifty-two, however, Juliette, nicknamed Daisy, founded the Girl Scouts of America. Finally she had found her purpose and she devoted the rest of her life to making the Girl Scouts a successful organization.

Despite her love of parties as a young woman, Daisy always had an eccentric side that made her different from other girls. She adopted stray dogs and cats as a child. As an adult, she even had a pet bird that sat on her shoulder. Instead of paying attention in school, Daisy would often draw in her notebooks. Eventually she took art classes, which she loved. Though there were few athletic competitions for girls in the nineteenth century, Daisy was a good swimmer and even became captain of a rowing team.

After she finished school, Daisy traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe. She married an Englishman and went to even more extravagant parties but the marriage wasn’t happy. After her husband died, Daisy wandered aimlessly, trying to find a purpose for her life. She found it after meeting Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in England. She thought girls in America would also benefit from a similar program. After creating a few Girl Guide patrols in England, she took the idea to her native Georgia.

On March 12, 1912, eighteen girls over age twelve became America’s first Girl Guides. Activities included playing basketball on a vacant lot near Daisy’s home in Savannah, going on hikes, and attending formal teas at Daisy’s house. Daisy thought girls should be self-reliant inside and outside the home. “Her girls” as Daisy called them, learned first aid and cooking, but they were also taught that women could do men’s jobs. The first Girl Scout handbook gave examples of women doctors and airplane pilots. “The numbers of women who have taken up aviation prove that women’s nerves are good enough for flying,” the handbook said. When the handbook was published in 1913, Daisy received letters asking about the newly named Girl Scouts from across the U.S. Soon she set up a national headquarters for the organization in Washington.

Daisy was a role model to her scouts, whose meetings she happily attended until the very end of her life. Though she had lost most of her hearing in her twenties, she never allowed her disability to keep her from participating in activities. Her organization allowed girls with disabilities to participate in scouting at a time when they were excluded from other clubs.

Though Girl Scouts started with just eighteen girls, membership today has grown to 3.7 million members. Amazingly, the organization began thanks to the efforts of a Southern belle.

 

The History of the Christmas Card

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If you celebrate Christmas, you’re probably giving and receiving Christmas cards in the mail or in person. But do you know who sent the very first Christmas card?

In 1843, an Englishman named Sir Henry Cole wanted to send Christmas greetings to his friends, but he had so many people on his list that he couldn’t write letters to all of them. Instead of sending letters, he asked artist John Horsley to create a card. The middle of the card showed a family celebrating the holiday with wine. The left and right sides showed people giving to the poor. The message on the card read “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” Horsley’s card was criticized because the family scene showed a child sipping wine, which was considered “fostering the moral corruption of children.”

Sir Henry didn’t send any cards the next year, but the Christmas card became a tradition in England. By 1847, more people sent Christmas cards to each other and additional artists designed them. Holiday cards became more elaborate. Some were shaped like desserts or bells; some were pop-ups that revealed tiny skaters; others made noise or came in pieces as puzzles.

Americans imported Christmas cards for more than thirty years, until German immigrant Louis Prang published the first U.S. Christmas cards. He held contests for artists to design cards and offered the winners thousands of dollars. Prang produced the winning cards in bulk. The first cards showed only flowers and birds, but Prang’s line of cards began to include beautiful scenes of children playing in the snow and Christmas trees. In 1881, Harper’s Weekly wrote that “the American Christmas cards excel the imported cards this season, and many of them are framed and presented as separate gifts.” The high quality of Prang’s cards made them expensive to produce, and he was forced out of business with the appearance of cheaply made cards.

Although Christmas cards have changed over the years to include cartoon characters and jokes, the tradition of sending cards at Christmas remains popular. Over 2.6 billion Christmas cards are mailed each year—more than the number of Valentine’s Day cards.

So when you gather with your family this Christmas, see if they can guess how the tradition of sending Christmas cards began.

 

Reindeer in World War II?

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During World War II, reindeer were doing more than helping Santa bring presents to children’s homes. In addition to that task, reindeer from the Artic hauled supplies to the battlefront. Americans shipped guns and other supplies to a port in Murmansk, Russia to aid their Soviet allies. Though many ships didn’t make it to the port, the supplies that did needed to be transported to the battlefield. That’s when the reindeer, along with other pack animals like donkeys, were put to use.

Russian reindeer herders volunteered not only themselves but also their animals to serve in the war. Vladimir Kanev, a reindeer herder who served early in World War II, described the experience. “We rushed to the front, transporting as many shells and mines as we could load on the sledges. After that we spent all winter running between Murmansk and Litsa.”

British and American students of World War II tend to think of the tanks used by their militaries to carry men and supplies, but the Soviets did not have the same resources, especially in the Artic. This fact made reindeer important not only for bringing guns and ammunition to the battlefields but also in caring for the wounded soldiers. Vladimir says, “Often working under fire, we wrapped the wounded in deer skins, tied them down on the sledges and ran them to the hospitals.” Reindeer herders sometimes found pilots who had been shot down, and the reindeer helped carry them out of danger. During the winter of 1941, reindeer and their herders brought 6,000 soldiers to safety. On occasion, reindeer even towed some downed planes so the parts could be reused.

It was dangerous work for the animals and their human leaders. The harsh climate as well as German planes and ships put the supply route under constant threat. Out of eight hundred herders who went to the northern front in 1941, six hundred returned.

Reindeer remained important throughout the war. After 1941, thousands of additional reindeer contributed to the Soviets’ success. One herder recalls the Soviet invasion of Norway in 1944. Both the herders and their reindeer participated in chasing their German enemies. The herder says, “we harnessed all the deer we could and ran with the rest of the Army, swimming the deer across countless rivers and streams…sometimes we even caught isolated German soldiers by lasso!”

Given the contributions of reindeer to Allied victory in World War II, the director of the Lovozero Museum near Murmansk hopes to build a monument in honor of the animals.

 

 

 

Eleanor Roosevelt: Champion for Youth

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During the Depression, young people had little hope of finding work or attending college. In 1934 Eleanor Rooseveltshowed concern for 3 million unemployed youth. She said, “I have moments of real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary.”

Eleanor Roosevelt's school portrait

Eleanor Roosevelt’s school portrait

Eleanor’s wish came true through a new government agency—The National Youth Administration. By 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt had received several proposals for youth aid programs. He gave these proposals to a private group, which included the future chairman of the NYA and Eleanor. The group advocated scholarship aid for high school and college students as well as a work program for youth who had graduated or dropped out. FDR established the NYA by Executive Order on June 26, 1935.

There was no greater supporter of the program during its eight year existence than Eleanor Roosevelt. She pressed the head of the NYA to do more during the NYA’s first year and received monthly reports on the status of youth projects.

Eleanor wrote extensively about the NYA in her newspaper column, “My Day.” She kept the country informed of the NYA’s progress by describing her visits to NYA project sites. On a trip to L.A., for example, Eleanor noted that the wood-working and sewing projects were set up like a real factory so that the boys and girls who worked there would be better prepared when they found full-time employment. Her visits to youth projects spanned the country. History Professor Margaret Rung points out that though Eleanor could be a controversial figure, her columns developed generally positive publicity for the NYA. Without her support, the program could have been marginalized.

Her columns reveal that Eleanor was not only interested in observing NYA projects, but she also attended NYA committee meetings. Eleanor invited both administrators and students to her Hyde Park, New York, home to discuss issues within the program. Through her invitations she gave everyone involved in the NYA a chance to be heard by someone who had direct access to the president.

Although Eleanor wanted the NYA to become a permanent organization, she realized its limitations. She wrote, “here, before our eyes, we see the proof that we have learned how to give these youngsters training…Yet, we have only developed this program for a limited number. The  NYA should cover every boy and girl coming out of school who is not able to obtain work in private industry, or who is not called to service under the selective draft.”

The NYA did not become a permanent program and could not cover all youth, but its accomplishments were aided by Eleanor’s enthusiasm. During the NYA’s eight year existence, 2,134,000 youth had the opportunity to continue their education. Students in the school program did clerical work, remodeled buildings, worked in libraries, and became lab assistants to earn money for school supplies and clothes. Students in the out-of-school program were often involved in construction work, but had other options such as clerical and agricultural training.

By 1942 work programs focused on producing materials needed in World War II. Students learned industrial sewing and how to repair planes and radios. In her column Eleanor shared a letter that five girls who worked on radios wrote to the director of the Kansas NYA after finding jobs: “On average we are making $50 a month and for the five of us it doesn’t cost very much for rent or groceries…The spirit of cooperation and working together [from their NYA experience] is largely responsible for the way we are getting along so well up here.”

Eleanor grieved when the NYA ended. She felt that young people would need job training after the war. By supporting the agency during its existence, however, she enabled millions of youth to earn wages during the nation’s worst economy.