BOY SCOUTS

At least this discussion woke up HISTARCH. I was starting to think it
had gone extinct or that Anita had been run over in a cattle stampede
out West.

I did not belong to the Boy Scouts and always considred it an extenison
of the Hitler Youth - delinquents who like to wear uniforms, start
fires in forests and tie up people. [Actually I wonder if the Hitler
Youth was a branch of the International Boy Scouts in the 1930's??].

More to the point, after the current Boy Scouts has decided to stop
its MOST RECENT bigotry - I just bet they were open to Blacks in the
the 1940s or 1950s - then there is a question involving Historical
Archaeology. There is a Merit Badge for archaeology, although I do not
know the details. Why not have SHA or some other organization approach
the Scouts (down the road) about creating a separate Merit Badge for
Historical Archaeology. Would not be a bad idea.

Just as it would not be a bad idea - which I think Merrick Posnansky
is going to discuss at SHA 2001 in Long Beach - to get Historical
Archaeology recognized on US and other national stamps. There has been
some of this (e.g. Industrial Archaeology in England) but not that
much (e.g. the three great projects at Jamestown - 1930's (Harrington)
1950's (Cotter) and the current one is a natural stamp set moving up to
2007).

Glad that HISTARCH is still alive and well.

                                        Bob Schuyler









At 09:57 AM 10/15/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>An archaeology list is no place for diatribes about sexual orientation, but
>it is an appropriate place to discuss the role of our profession in
>education.
>
>Personally, I believe there is no way to support that organizaton, as long
>as it maintains a policy of bigotry and ignorance. Scout policy sends a
>dangerous message to youth, incompatible with civilized behavior.
>
>It would be totally appropriate for archaeologists (an archaeological
>organizations) to withdraw support from Boy Scout merit badges until that
>organization stops espousing bigotry against a largely innocent segment of
>the population.
>
>
>
>               Ned Heite  ([log in to unmask])
>*****************************************
>*   Nothing warms a chilly fall morning *
>*   like a steaming compost.            *
>*****************************************
>
>
Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
33rd & Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
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