Figure 1.--American Cubs, like Scouts, wore knickers during the 1930s. I'm not sure if there was even a short pants uniform at the time for them.

The BSA established the American Cub Scouts in 1930. This was quite a bit after the English and other foreign Scouts had set up a Cub program for the younger boys. The first Cub uniform was a blue cap, yellow kerchief, blue shirt, blue knickers, and blue kneesocks. The cap had yellow trimm and the badges had yellow letters. Almost all of the boys wearthis uniform in the 1930s. I'm not sure just when short pants were introduced, but there were no Cub long pants in the 1930s. The knee socks had two destictive gold bands at the top.

Foundation

The BSA after considerable internal debate established the American Cub Scouts in 1930. This was quite a bit after the English and other foreign Scouts had set up a Cub program for the younger boys. There was resistance within the BSA even though large numbers of American boys were interested in Cubbing.

Uniform

The original Cub uniform of blue and yellow (always referred to as gold) would not look to unfamiliar to modern Cubs, except for the peaked cap and knickers. There was a blue cap, yellow kerchief, blue shirt, blue knickers, and blue kneesocks. The cap had yellow trimm and the badges had yellow letters. Almost all of the boys wear this uniform in the 1930s. I'm not sure just when short pants were introduced, but there were no Cub long pants. The uniform was worn with leather shoes, but many boys wore canvas shoes as well. I am not sure if Cubs wore shorts in the 1930s, if so it was not common. I have seen few photographs of Cubs in shorts during the 1930s.

Garments

The uniform maintained the peaked cap style of English wolf cubs, but had knickers rather than short pants like English and other foreign groups. I was initially not sure if there was a short pants uniform for the summer. I have not noticed photographs of American Cubs wearing shorts in the 1930s. A HBU contributor, however, reports, "I became a Cub Scout in 1937 and my entire Cub Pack wore short pants. The climate where I lived (California) was mild to hot. Other packs had knickers and combinations of shorts and knickers. It depends where the pack's were formed. Ours was a public school, some were churches, etc." We note a Texas school group in 1939 with most of the Cubs wearing shorts, but not with the kneesocks. We are not sure if the boys who are not Cubs also wear shorts. Also Norman Rockwell paintings show Cubs wearing short pants, but the illustrations are not commonly dated. We note that Rockwell sometimes painted Cubs in shorts even though the model wore knickers. So apparently there was both a knickers and short pants Cub uniform. HBU believes that the knickers uniform was worn much more commonly than the short pants uniform. American Cubs did not, however, wear long pants in the 1930s.