Talk:Scout councils (Boy Scouts of America)

A fact from Scout councils (Boy Scouts of America) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 16 March 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the majority of local councils of the Boy Scouts of America have gone through thousands of name changes, merges, splits and re-creations since the establishment of the organization in 1910?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2013/March.

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DYK nomination[edit]

--evrik ^(talk) 21:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal[edit]

Would Wikipedians entertain the idea of having the Councils-by-state sections recategorized to "Scouting in Arizona", "Scouting in Washington", and so on, rather than a list of every council and district? The reason I would like this considered is

1) no other country's Scouting articles are divided into such minute details (except for The Scout Association of Hong Kong, and really, is that much minutiae important or interesting to the reader?)

2) many councils that a reader may choose to look up, like the Fitchburg Area Council of Massachusetts or the Vigilante Area Council of Montana, went extinct 30+ years ago, yet may be of interest in a more state-based article

3) many states like Alaska share a communal Scout history, only fairly recently being broken into smaller councils, others like North Dakota had several merged into one, and some Scouting histories are better told encompassing an entire state. The fact that Scouts in California prior to the charter of the BSA were the youth arm of the California Highway Patrol, or the fact that Connecticut, while having only eight counties, has had 22 councils over the course of its history, would be well-included in a statewide article

Chris 00:39, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Merged per nom. --Gadget850 ( Ed) 15:34, 9 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Possible sources[edit]

"Home Page". ScoutSource. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
"Home Page". Scout Wire. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
"Archives". ProSpeak. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
"Home Page". Internal Communications. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
"Home Page". Trailblazers. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
"Home Page". National Council News Update. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
"Home Page". The Buzz. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved February 15, 2013.

--evrik ^(talk) 17:36, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Numbers[edit]

I don't know of a good way to get council membership without going to each web site and doing a search. I am sure that Michigan Crossroads Council is one of the bigger councils now, but I can't find anything on their site.

The BSA no longer reports Learning for Life in-school numbers, only Exploring, so the total membership table will never be updated as such.

I have been tracking mergers since 2009 at Template talk:Scoutorg BSA.

--— Gadget850 (Ed)^talk 17:58, 15 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'll keep my ears open. --evrik ^(talk) 18:00, 15 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Scout councils and inclusion[edit]

partial list of Scout councils and what they have done for inclusion
Council Name	Date	Status	link	Notes
Piedmont Council	10/2000	Unknown	http://www.wnd.com/2000/10/484	The action by the Piedmont Council is the first opposition to the ban on homosexuals and atheists by a chartered council and paid BSA professionals, according to Greg Shields, national Boy Scouts of America spokesman. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2000/10/484/#ooIi5IFBLk06MLRs.99
Philadelphia Council	6/2003	Reversed	http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mostert/030619	"The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America on Monday circulated a letter to Boy Scout executives across the country, written by chief scout executive Roy L. Williams stating: "As a condition of their charter, no local council is permitted to depart from [Boy Scouts of America] membership policies." Charters of those local councils ignoring the policy would be rescinded. The Philadelphia Cradle of Liberty Boy Scout Council rescinded its action on allowing homosexual leaders and members."
Northern Star Council	06/12	Apparently Withdrawn	http://www.northernstarbsa.org/AboutUs/Leadership/Inclusiveness.aspx http://southwestminneapolis.patch.com/articles/sw-minneapolis-scouting-groups-stick-to-policy-inclusive-of-gays http://www.startribune.com/local/162817346.html	Northern Star joins several other councils that have expressed their defiance of the national policy.
Boston Minuteman Council	6/2012	Apparently Withdrawn	http://www.startribune.com/local/west/162817346.html	The Boston Minuteman Council serves youth through volunteers in Packs, Troops and other units without regard to color, race, religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation or economic status. We have done our best to live up to this statement in the decade since its adoption http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443343704577551162306364148.html?mg=reno64-wsj http://www.lincolnscouts.org/scouts/scoutingessentials
Narragansett Council	unknown	unknown	http://www.scoutsforequality.com/new-supporting-council/northern-star-council-supports-equality-despite-bsas-position	n/a
Baden-Powell Council	1992	unknown	http://www.scoutingforall.org/data/layer02/news/takeastand/stand2.html	"BSA excluding homosexuals from membership in the Boy Scouts of America is endangering Scouting in both the Baden-Powell Council and across the nation, therefore we urge the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America to revise its policy to give responsibility for choice of membership to local Chartered Partners."

Cheers, 71.178.129.27 (talk) 19:53, 17 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How do we use this? --evrik ^(talk) 21:50, 19 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- It belongs in Boy Scouts of America membership controversies, and much of it is already included. --— Gadget850 (Ed)^talk 12:25, 20 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Current councils[edit]

How do we use this? --evrik ^(talk) 21:51, 19 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- See User:Gadget850/List of local councils of the Boy Scouts of America. --— Gadget850 (Ed)^talk 12:13, 20 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  - I'm moving this information over to the talk page for merging for a possible List of local councils of the Boy Scouts of America page. --evrik ^(talk) 21:58, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Todo[edit]

The USSSP page on National organization is way out of date
~~Add Michigan Crossroads Council unique organization~~
~~Split Direct Service to separate section: not a council, but often treated as such~~

--— Gadget850 (Ed)^talk 13:12, 15 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Did what I could. --evrik ^(talk) 18:37, 15 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

History section needs a total rewrite and references. Checked for copyvio with no results. --— Gadget850 (Ed)^talk 18:07, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What tool do you use for copyvio? I'd like to use that as a future resource. --evrik ^(talk) 16:39, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Region and Area Maps[edit]

http://www.scouting.org/Home/OutdoorProgram/Properties/Region%20and%20Area%20Maps.aspx

-- Gadget850^talk 19:52, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Out of date size lists[edit]

Two of the top ten councils by size have merged. However both councils saw well over 90% of their troops dissolved at the end of 2019, so the lists are just plain rubbish now.John Pack Lambert (talk) 21:56, 30 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]