Archives

Archives is an All Ages Award from the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia Council.

Brownies: Complete 4 activities including 1 “Take Action” activity.

Juniors: Complete 6 activities including 1 “Take Action” activity.

Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors: Complete 8 activities including 2 “Take Action” activities.

# Discover

1. Look up archives in a dictionary. What does it mean to you?

2. Find out about ways to keep archival materials safe and identify at least one technique for preserving the following materials: a letter, a photograph, a uniform, and a badge. (See Resource Guide, Appendix A)

3. See the Film “The Golden Eaglet.” How has Girl Scouting changed? How has it stayed the same? (Golden Eaglet available at First Headquarters)

4. Look at the old Girl Scout handbooks to learn about the changes in age level divisions over the years. How have awards changed for your age level? Why do you think they have changed? From How Girls Can Help Their Country, try to earn your age-level badge. Brownies do one badge activity, Juniors two, and Cadettes, Seniors & Ambassadors three.

5. Look at old uniforms or pictures of old uniforms and membership pins for girls of your age level. How are they different from those of today? How are they the same?

6. Find out about the first Girl Scout Troop in your area. Who were the leaders and the girls? When were they organized? What activities did they do, what kind of uniform did they wear? Share your findings with the First Headquarters Archives.

7. Some of Savannah’s most influential women were responsible for organizing Girl Scouts. Find out about several women who helped to organize Girl Scouting in the Savannah Council. How were they influential? Make a scrapbook page about her and share it with the First Headquarters.

8. How many camps has the Girl Scout Council of Savannah owned through the years? Where was the first camp? Name some other important Girl Scout camps in our council. Which are still operational today? How have camp activities changed through time, and how have they stayed the same. Learn about former camp activities you would have liked to do, and share your opinions with the First Headquarters.

# Connect

1. Look in your home or a grandparents home or a second hand shop for a photograph or document such as a journal, a letter, a birth certificate, or a deed that is 25 years older or more. Ask about the history of the artifact and the significance of it to the owner. Could you tell the significance by looking at it?

2. Using what you have learned, pick one item from your childhood and preserve it appropriately, be it a quilt, document, your first drawing, or a baby photograph. You decide – remember, there may come a time when you can’t remember what it is, so label it!

3. Girl Scout cookies were first baked commercially in 1934. Before that (1920s) girls sold cookies they made. Bake Girl Scout Cookies from an “original” recipe (See Appendix C)

4. Investiture ceremonies have changed over time. Act out the ceremony found in “How Girls Can Help Their Country.”

5. Play a few of the games in Appendix D: Games. Imagine you have no toys and invent your own game as the early Girl Scouts did.

6. Find three badges or other recognitions that are the same as in your current badge book or handbook. Find three that no longer exist and three that are new. For the badges that are the same, compare the activities: How are they the same or different? For the badges that no longer exist: why do you think they were eliminated? For the new badges: Why do you think they were added? What do these changes say about the changing role of women in the United States?

7. Name five places significant to Girl Scouting in Savannah. Visit one and write a story about your experience or pretend that you were there while it was becoming significant and write about your experience back in time.

8. Interview a former Girl Scout or Girl Scout leader about their experiences in Girl Scouting. How was their experience different from yours? How was it the same? Ask them to show you any memorabilia they may have, and how they have preserved it. Share what you know about archiving. Brownies should do this as a group activity. Juniors may do this as a group but each person must ask two questions and the troop must provide some record of the interview (see interview tips section). Cadettes and Seniors may work in pairs to interview. Each pair must produce a transcript and a media record of the interview to be shared with the First Headquarters.

# Take Action

These are suggested service projects. You are welcome to develop your own project, but all projects need to be pre-approved by the First Headquarters staff or your Regional Office.
1. **Sharing:** Share what you have learned about Girl Scout history with your family, your class at school, other Girl Scouts or friends who are not Girl Scouts.

a. Give a five minute explanation of Girl Scout history.
b. Make an outline of your presentation or make sketches to illustrate it.
c. Make a simple power point presentation or a page protected booklet with pictures illustrating your presentation on Girl Scout History.
2. **Scrapbooking:** Throughout history, Girl Scouts have kept track of their troop and service unit activities by keeping scrapbooks. The Girl Scout First Headquarters has a great collection of scrapbooks through the years. Make your own scrapbook and include pictures, programs, souvenirs, meeting minutes, and any other important documents. Imagine that someone is reading this scrapbook in 100 years, would they be able to tell who you are, what troop your from, where you live, and when you lived? Have you labeled your pictures with the names of the girls and where it was taken? Have you dated and documented where all your newspaper clippings came from? Did you date your minutes, and describe your activities? What kind of important facts would someone from the future be able to get from your scrapbook? (This can be an individual, interest group or troop project.)

a. Make a scrapbook page or two about the last important troop event you attended.
b. Make a scrapbook that chronicles all your pictures and souvenirs of Girl Scouting in the last six months. If you are a new Girl Scout chronicle your family activities.
c. Make a scrapbook about all of your troop and service unit activities in the last year, or if you haven’t been a girl scout that long, make a scrapbook about your family events, outings, and interesting events.
3. **Poster displays:** Make a series of posters telling about the beginnings of Girl Scouting in your town. This can be a mural or a collage or can be pictures with words-the possibilities are endless. Go to the Georgia Historical Society to see a wonderful display of Georgia Civil War history to get ideas. Get permission to place them in your school or in store windows in our town.

a. Make one poster
b. Make two posters or create a bifold board (diptych)
c. Make three posters or create a trifold board (triptych)
4. Make up a skit about Girl Scout history in your town and perform it for parents, for other Girl Scouts or other friends. Older girls can use it as a tool to teach younger girls Girl Scout history.

5. Arrange for an exhibit or fashion show of a sampling of Girl Scout uniforms over the years. The First Headquarters has uniforms and would be happy to accommodate requests to perform fashion shows in the building. The Headquarters will also display exhibits and work with Cadettes and Seniors to use archive items in these exhibits. You could have your display in the First Headquarters. Call to make arrangements.

6. Videotape activities of your own or a younger troop for future historians, and deposit a copy in the First Headquarters archives.

7. Learn something about three people who had an impact on Girl Scouting.

* One nationally (some examples: Jane Deeter Rippin, Edith Macy, Lou Henry Hoover, Kit Hammet, Marie Gaudette)

* One in Girl Scout council of Savannah such as (Mattie Paine, Dr. Rosalyn Payne Epps, Mary Flannery O’Connor, Nina Pape, Ann Hyde Choate, Edith Johnston).

* One in your local area. Ask old-timers in Girl Scouting for additional names.

# External Links

Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia Council's Own

Archives patch requirements

Order patches at the Girl Scouts Official Online Store -- Council's Own Merchandise for Historic Georgia