During the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America in 2010 John Soresen got the idea to create a traveling display that he calls Scouting History on Wheels.  In my interview with him today John shares the story of how he put together the display and what he is trying to share with the audience.  Perhaps the most unique thing he has done is assemble a patrol of Scouts in vintage uniforms to perform flag ceremonies in classic fashion.  John's story and willingness to be a Boy Scout evangelist for the movement should be an inspiration for all memorabilia collectors. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

In the conclusion of my interview with Brad England the coufounder of the Scout Patch Collectors Facebook Group we reflect back on how the group has impacted the hobby.  Brad and I also talk about how in many ways the group is an anomaly for Facbook in that is is uber-active.  Finally we make a wish list for tools that we lack as admins of the group. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

Brad England and I literally launched the Scout Patch Collectors Facebook as a direct result of this radio show two years ago.  I noticed Brad swapping Boy Scout patches on Facebook and lined him up on an interview to share his strategy.  Out of that conversation was born the idea to create a group on Facebook devoted to trading patches and the group was born.  In this interview the cofounders look back as the group climbs over 5,000 members with no signs of slowing down. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

For more than a decade the Scout Patch Collectors Base Camp has been the goto reference directory for those interested in Scouting memorabilia.  Glenn Chase is my guest tonight and I consider him to be one of the Internet pioneers of the hobby.  As the curator of the base camp since it launched he has probably seen every patch collecting website there is including many that are now long gone.  In this show Glenn shares the story of where he got the idea for the project and how he has kept it going all these years.  We also talk about his other hobby websites and he gives some great advice to those seeking to get started on a website project. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

Matt Delk has been collecting Scouting memorabilia just about his whole life. One of the most unique collections he has is Order of the Arrow belt buckles. This is a very niche collection and he shares his passion for it in this interview. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

When Gary Beadle looked up at the tall pine paneled wall of the Gulf Coast Council BSA Scout office he had an inspiration.  Why not decorate the beautiful wall with a true council collection of memorabilia.  He pitched the idea to the council board and Scout executive who were more than happy for him to undertake the project to commemorate the Boy Scouts of America's centennial celebration in 2010.  Tonight on Scouting Hot Finds Radio we dive into the question of how he did it.  Gary got retired professionals, families of deceased Scouters and even serious collectors to give him the pieces he needed to fill in the collection and he did the rest.  You'll even hear me ask some thorny questions about what the diggers thought about him having an official letter of introduction from the Council Scout Executive.  One of the reasons I wanted to bring Gary Beadle on to share his story is so that other collectors might be inspired to follow his example.  The idea of working with the council and or camp to put up a permanent display should not be radical idea for Boy Scout memorabilia collectors.  If Gary can do it so can you (and me!).  Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

Ted Thompson was like many Boy Scout memorabilia collectors when he ran up against a collecting roadblock about five years ago.  His main interest was council shoulder strips but when he got down to a final list of the twenty-five toughies he had to come up with something new to pursue to keep his passion for the hobby going.  He remembered the words of his camp counselor, "if you ever get any Project S.O.A.R. patches pick them up for me."  Before long he had all the national issue items and was on to digging through trade-o-ree bins for council and district issued event patches with a S.O.A.R. theme.  The program was first introduced by the Boy Scouts of America in the early 1970s and stands for Save Our American Resources.  Listen in tonight for my take on side collections and hear Ted's story on how he got into a fun and inexpensive collection that might be unusual for some.  What interesting side collections do you have? Send me an email and maybe we can get you on the air too! Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

Boy Scout memorabilia collectors in this episode of Scouting Hot Finds Radio I wrap up 2013 and look to new projects in 2014.  Over the course of the year there have been 18 episodes of the show published with interviews from interesting people in the hobby such as Russell Smart, Chris Jensen, Deryl Radder and more.  Some of my web projects such as BoyScoutTweet.com changed their focus while others like the Scout Patch Collectors Facebook Group continued to grow.  With the new year I'll be jumping right into some new projects including finding ways to help educate and bring up a new generation of collectors in the hobby. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

The effort to catalog and describe all known Order of the Arrow issues has been ongoing since the 1950s.  Many old collectors will remember the Bill Price books that had a picture of each flap and attempted to describe the restrictions.  David Leubitz had a book – the original Blue Book that tried to catalog the issues and introduced the vocabulary that many collectors are familiar with today such as “S” for solid embroidered flap and “F” for not fully embroidered flap.  Later Albertus Hoogeveen and Richard Breithaupt revolutionized this effort with Arapahoe that was published in 1976 with pictures.  The Arapahoe II Supplement was published in 1988 and reorganized the original catalog based on new information.  Perhaps it was this renumbering of issues that led some collectors to begin work on a new Blue Book effort that would have a structure of national (4), regional (18) and lodge (100+) editors to make the final determinations on cataloging Order of the Arrow memorabilia. 

In this session that was recorded at the Dallas TOR in 2013 there is a discussion led by Roy More of TSPA that catches up on that history and explains what is going on with Blue Book 2.0. The Blue Book was published in 1996 and eventually the printed book included 5 editions that came in two year intervals.  The final version was released almost completely as a digital product in 2006. 

Johnny Sneed of Louisiana is also  in on the session and he served as one of the original regional editors and volunteered his time and talents to lay out the massive book.  You can also hear the voice of Todd Rogers who chimes in with some good points. Much of the second half of the session is a brainstorming chat about how to redo the numbering and classification system of OA patches. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.

In the conclusion of my interview with Dan Coberly regarding American Scouting overseas we talk about what BSA Scouting has looked like in the War on Terrorism.  Dan discusses how Scouting has popped up in Iraq and Afghanistan led by soldiers who are reaching out to the community.  He also gives a neat history of the Overseas Arrowmen Association.  This is Part II of my interview so if you missed the first part I invite you to listen to it in the archives or in iTunes. Find more Scouting memorabilia content and all of my podcasts at http://www.scoutpatchcollectors.com.