Troop 1 BSA Unadilla, NY: Curtis Ballard Album Photos of Long Island Roosevelt Pilgrimage in 1933

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Curtis Ballard Album Photos of Long Island Roosevelt Pilgrimage in 1933

Ray Ballard of Sidney, NY recently showed us a family photo album of his father's, Curtis Ballard, with some pictures of his father and Daniel Carter Beard at some Long Island Boy Scout event in the 1930s. A little detective work revealed his father was present at an annual Theodore Roosevelt Pilgrimage event in Oyster Bay, NY, probably around October 20 of 1933, the anniversary of Roosevelt's death in 1919. Many of the photos show "Uncle Dan" Beard and other buckskinned dignitaries ready to march to the grave site of the 26th President, columns of marching Scouts waving American flags, and a group of boys in full Indian regalia, several of which I have used to illustrate the blog article Daniel Carter Beard and the Theodore Roosevelt Pilgrimage posted below. One picture shows Curtis in a suit standing next to the grizzled National Commissioner.

Another related item, a 40th Crusade felt patch, a souvenir of the 1949 Pilgrimage to Roosevelt's grave, showed up recently in a collection of 1940s and 1950s patches donated to the Unadilla Boy Scout Museum. Collectors of Roosevelt memorabilia are familiar with buttons marking various years of this event but this little felt patch is unusual.

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 18, 2014 at 7:04 PM
Hi, FYI: The 1949 40th Crusade 1949 Pilgrimage patch you guys have on your site as a T.R. Pilgrimage item is wrong. It has nothing to do with the T.R. Roosevelt Pilgrimage.. Do the Math?? 1919-1949 id thirty years...not Forty Years. I have a collection of T.R. Roosevelt Pilgrimage Pins and Patches I can send you scans of to put on your site. I just want mention that they are mine. Donald Tuttle can vouch for me. Glad to help. Garry Vaiana
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Troop 1 BSA Unadilla NY History Blogsite

Welcome to the blogsite of Troop 1 BSA Unadilla, NY--"America's Centennial Boy Scout Troop." Unadilla's Boy Scout Troop 1 will celebrate a singular honor in 2010 as the oldest continually chartered Boy Scout troop in the USA. While not the first troop to register with the new Boy Scouts of America organization in 1910--its charter was the 166th out of about 4,000 issued that year-- it has achieved a near-100 year record of unbroken registration unmatched by any other Boy Scout troop in the nation. The Rev. Yale Lyon, the troop's first Scoutmaster for twenty-seven years, established a strong tradition of Scouting in this small upstate community that still continues today.

The troop begun as a "little experiment with a community project for boys" has survived two World Wars, the depths of the Great Depression, and the changing patterns of family life and technology. Today the troop is sponsored by the Unadilla Fire Department, meets in the Unadilla Historical Association's Masonic Temple Community Hall and can claim nearly 2,000 men among its alumni.

This blog also represents a technical milestone in the troop's history. In 1960, a small gold covered pamphlet was published and distributed locally, The History of Boy Scouting--Golden Anniversary by Ray Hallock, a local newspaper publisher. The pamplet detailed the first half-century of the Boy Scouts of America and the equally venerable Troop 1 BSA Unadilla, NY; today, we can tell the story on the websites and blogs of the Internet for everyone across the world to read. We hope you enjoy what you read here as we "Celebrate the Adventure and Continue the Journey" of Scouting together.

Donald Tuttle
Lyon Patrol Leader, Troop 1 Alumni Association
Otschodela Council BSA Vice President Administration
100th Anniversary National Leadership Team