United States Boy Scout Uniforms: The First National Jamboree (1937)
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.