Figure 3.--The First National Jamboree established the precedence of making the short pants uniform the standard uniform at national jamborees.

The BSA planned a national jamboree for several years. One problem for the Unitrd States was the size of the country andcthe cost of tracvel forvScouts living at some distance from the site. Even so, Washington, D.C. on the east coast was chosen as the site for the first Jamboree. Surveying the uniforms at the Nation Jamborees is a good reflection of evolving U.S. Scout uniform trends.

Background

The first First U.S. National Janboree at Washington was without a doubt a major event in the history of American Scouting in America. The Jamboree was long in coming, but set a precedent for the Jamborees to come. Of course the nation's capital was selected as the appropriate location for the First National Jamboree. It was followed by the Fifth World Jamboree held in the Netherlands in which an enthusiastic contingent of U.S. Scouts and Leaders from the United States took part.

The First U.S. National Jamboree was originally scheduled for Washington, D. C. for August of 1935. The invitations went out and Scouts from across the country prepared to attend the country's firsr naaa for this great event marking the 25th anniversary of Scouting in America. An outbreak of polio early in the summer caused the BSA to cancel the plans for 1935. Instead, it was rescheduled and held in the summer of 1937.

The Jamboree was held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The Washington Monument was the center of the encampment.

More than 25,000 boys assembled in Washington for the First National Jamboree. The tent city which spread around the Washington Monument and adjacent areas in Potomac Park (north and south of the Tidal Basin) and across the Potomac into the fields below Arlington National Cemetery. wrote, "Everywhere bare-kneed youngsters in khaki perambulated through the streets with cameras and autograph books."

The National Jamboree was the largest assemblage oy young Americans in the country's history. Press reportss described, "Everywhere rose a babel of youthful voices, in childish versions of the accents of Maine and California, of Wisconsin and Texas."

Jamboree Events

For a whole day Washington's Union Station was bedlam as troops of grinning boys in uniform piled off trains accompanied by young Scout Masters. Busses hustled them out to the river front parks where cooking, dining, administration tents and innumerable little wooden comfort stations had already been erected. The arrivals scattered over 350 acres, erected bright-colored tents for themselves, pounded tent pegs and fingers. At 8:45 next morning a trench mortar boomed and 25,000 Boy Scouts stood at attention. It boomed again and the flags of 52 nations rose in an avenue of flags beneath the Washington Monument. It boomed a third time, up went 1,634 flags to 1,634 mastheads throughout the encampment. The ten-day Jamboree had opened.

On the first evening of the Jamboree one of its three compulsory functions was held. (The other two: church on Sunday, review by the President). Some 28,000 boys and Scout Masters crowded around the base of the Washington Monument for the lighting of the Camp Fire. Up stepped wizened little Daniel Carter Beard with trusty flint and steel, struck the spark which lit a torch which ignited two big campfires. Old Dan Beard had every right to that honor. He has worn out more deerskin shirts and done more for boys than any magazine illustrator now alive. At 87 he is still spry and alert throws hatchets for exercise.

Activities

Every morning and afternoon there were optional sightseeing expeditions! to the Capitol, Mt. Vernon, Arlington etc. etc. Scouts swarmed through Washington buying films for their perpetual photographing. On six nights there were "arena displays' given at the foot of the Washington Monument by Scouts of two regions (there are twelve in the U. S.). One afternoon there was a Sea Scout regatta, one evening a fireworks display.

Interesting Developments

One of the most interesting developments at the First National Jamboree was the spontaneous appearance of swaping. As one press reports observes, "But more fascinating than spectacles, drills or speeches by oldsters about Scout ideals was the extra-curricular activity in which all 25,000 assiduously engaged--swapping." The reporter continues, "To Washington they had brought a strange assortment of impedimenta: wampum, pine cones, stuffed birds sharks teeth, shells, sponges, live hoot owls pickled scorpions. Texans (dressed in chaps) brought a large consignment of live horned toads. West Virginians brought hunks of coal shellacked for paperweights. Californians brought 20-ft strips of movie film. With these trade goods, the young merchants wandered around, to the wooden fence near the camp of the Bahamians, the barbed wire fence of the Texans, the Paul Bunyan display of the Wisconsin Scouts, the Florida encampment hung with Spanish moss. All day, every day the tent cities echoed with the wrangling of Young America trading what it possessed for something else it wanted." [Time Magazine, July 12, 1937]

Swaping became an accepted of every Jamboree which followed the First Jamboree in Washington. Perhaps the item on offer were not nearly as diverse as those sawaped in Washington, but little knots of wheeler dealer Scouts have been a feature of subsequent Jamborees. Scouting patches, especially Council Badges, were to become the center piece of the swaping, but trades of uniform items--especially with foreign Scouts were also popular.

Foreign Scouts

At 17th Street & Constitution Avenue were encamped about 400 foreign Scouts, troops from Chile and Poland, a Philippine Scout who had flown from Manila, British Columbians who had bicycled 3,500 miles, two Venezuelans who had tramped for 30 months through jungles covering the entire distance to Washington on foot. About 1,000 U. S. Scouts were to sail for a world jamboree to be held this month in The Netherlands. The foreign encampment was a particularly popular area for American Scouts anxious tomadd some foreign signatures to their autograph book

Uniform Items

The Jamboree was heavily covered by the press so we have a lot of information on the uniform the boys wore at the First Jamboree.

Summer Uniform

One precedent set at the First National Jamboree was that the Scouts would all wear the official summer uniform of short sleeved shirt, short pants, and kneesocks. American Scouts at the time mostly wore knickers, so a special uniform had to be purchased to particvipate in the Jamboree. This standard uniform has been continued at all subsequent Jamborees. The American Scout uniform switched to long pants in the 1940s, but short pants ciontinued to be worn at Jamborees. Some Scours wore shorts in the 1930s and 40s, but it was not until the 1970s that American Scouts began to comminly wear the short pants uniform.

Other items

We notice boys with the dark green rubberized poncho that was a standard BSA item for several decades.

Jamboree Items