A Scout Scrap Book: Foretells the Future

My Brownie Book from Troop 301 is a window into the past, and a porthole into the future.

Stored deep in my box of special journals I discover a hard object  I unknot the silk scarf in which it is wrapped and the memories spill out. Ah ha!, it's my brownie scout scrap book. Wooden covers, rawhide binding, macaroni letters. A familiar woody smell that prompts me to remember that dad cut the wooden cover boards for the entire Troop 301.

I glued those letters down, burying them in coats of shellac. Remember shellac? Won’t something eat them?, my eight year old self asked the leader.  Here are the macaroni letters, 60 years later and they are still hanging on. Well, most of them are.

What else resides between those covers? 

The book starts with the portraits of the girls of Troop 301.

A smiling brownie portrait.: eek pictures of my former self along with the girls of troop 301.  The portraits are amazing. Most of us are making the required nice smiley say "cheese" faces.  Judy G. is caught with her eyes shut, looking as if she is about to be shot.  Beth B. is making a ghoul face for no apparent reason. Sheila S. is sending mixed messages, her hands are nicely folded but she is sucking in her cheeks making her look slightly demonic.  Posing for a group portrait clearly isn't a popular pass time for this troop of eight year olds.



Scout cards. This brownie book was the start of a long scout career that led to being a senior scout. (how did i do this so long?) My secret desire was to be a sea scout.... I irrationally hoping that if I hung in there long enough some opportunity would arise. Fat chance living miles inland from the coast in the semi desert. 

Troop 301’s field trips are recorded. There is evidence of travels to The Sun Telegram, our local newspaper. I remember taking a tour and smelling the hot lead type and the sound of the big thundering presses. There was a trip to the 7 Up bottling plant (here everyone was rewarded with a soda.).  At the Griffith Park Planeterium I got a souvenir postcard. While I had no use for star talks then or now, I can say that I still love an expedition.

There are newspaper clips with photos. I remember how much I hated wearing the uniform as I got older and the fights with my mother who insisted I wear the full brownie uniform on troop meeting days. She loved uniforms. I did not. Even at ten I had my own ideas about fashion that didn’t include uniforms with dorky hats.

The color change from brown to green tells me the Brownie Scrap book stuck around all through my scouting career.

The merit badges are a revelation. Architecture (I went to architecture school),  Horsewoman (I was one horse crazy little girl and my best days growing up were those riding with my pals) . Backyard Camper (still camping), Journalism. (Then I had no clue I would become a writer.) Salt Water Life, one of my favorite things is still beach combing and I tell myself in my next life I will be a marine biologist.  Astonishing that 9 year old me knew where I was headed... and here are the badges to prove it.

My secret desire was to graduate into being a Sea Scout, the branch of senior scouts that focused on boating. Dream on. My town was located in the semi desert of southern California, hours away from the ocean. Still I took sailing in college, I found boyfriends with boats, I married an avid sailor and for many years we’ve sailed our Tartan 30 on San Francisco bay. Some of my best memories are of boat camping.  My secret desire found a way. 

This little scrap book is probably my first journal.  It is such a shock to see that the various threads of my life have had beginings long before I knew what path I would take.  The evidence is here in my Brownie Scout Scrap book.