The
History of Commissioner Service in the Boy Scouts of America.
The Boy Scouts of
America was created on February 8, 1910 by W. D. Boyce . On June 21, a group
of 34 representatives from around the nation met and developed
organizational plans. This group opened a temporary national headquarters in
New York using a local YMCA office. In September, Robert Baden-Powell, the
founder of Scouting, visited the U.S. and described the program.
Daniel Carter Beard,
from cover illustration by Joseph Chase for Boy's Life Magazine, February
1925
Uniform from 1919
In the early days of the
BSA, units were organized by resourceful individuals who sometimes had to
acquire the materials from England and other places to make it happen. These
first organizers were commissioners.
The newly formed
troops didn't communicate well and as a result there were many
inconsistencies. The new National Office struggled to manage the variations
in the program. One area that was an obvious inconsistency was uniforming.
Some units used
military uniforms while others created their own either by referencing
images of English Scout uniforms (from the English Scout Handbook) or by
simply putting pieces of "scout-like" items together to form an ad-hoc
uniform.
Daniel Carter Beard was
asked to be the first National Commissioner. Part of his duties were to
create a uniform standard as well as standards for program and field
operations. With a National Commissioner at the helm and new standards, the
would-be commissioners already in the field would need to become official.
The first "official"
Field Commissioners were appointed in 1914. These field representatives
issued special awards (like Life, Star, Eagle, and Lifesaving) as well as,
the authority to both create new units and to remove commissions from
volunteers as needed.
Dan Beard and
Baden-Powell 1936
Early ADC Patch
After a
couple of years (in 1916) some of these early commissioners were asked to
become Scout Executives. A few accepted the position and the Field Executive
position was born. This shift eventually led to the separation of the roles
of the executive and the commissioner. This began a partnership between
volunteers and professionals that exists still today.
(Note the "wreath of
service" on all commissioner and professional's position patches. This
wreath is a symbol for the service rendered to units. It also symbolizes the
continued partnership between volunteers and professionals. The Wreath of
Service represents the unending commitment, on the part of Commissioners, to
program and unit service. The position of Commissioner is the oldest in
Scouting and is the origin of the professional Scouting positions, which is
why professional Scouters wear the Wreath of Service as well. As a direct
result of the importance of unit service to the successful delivery of the
Scouting program, there are Commissioners at every level of Scouting)
The first commissioners
were Council commissioners. As councils grew, more help was needed. The
councils began to divide the workload into manageable districts where the
district commissioner structure emerged. One Commissioner could handle a few
units, but as districts grew, so did the structure of the Commissioner
Corps.
Commish Collar Device
Early Neighborhood
Commissioner patch
In the
1940's the structure of commissioner service began to evolve. A need for
unit serving commissioners was apparent. The workload on District
commissioners and Deputy DC's was too heavy, and a more personal touch was
needed. The position of Neighborhood Commissioner was created to fill this
gap. These Neighborhood commissioner would usually serve only up to four
units.
By the 1960's the
terminology changed as did the structure. Neighborhood Commissioners were
now known as Unit Commissioners and only served a maximum of three units.
All Deputy positions were changed to Assistant. Commissioner Service as we
know it today began to take shape.
Experimentation in the 1970's brought us a short lived Zone Commissioner as
well as Stovepiping some of the Commissioner positions. In the 1980's these
were dropped and by 1990 a new plan with a new National Commissioner
position to create the Commissioner structure now in place.
Today organization
from the national level, Boy Scouts of America has a National Commissioner.
Reflective of national, each Council has a Council Commissioner and
Assistant Council Commissioners to ease the work load. It is at the District
level that you will find most of BSA's Commissioners serving. Whether as
District Commissioner, Assistant District Commissioners, Roundtable
Commissioners, or Unit Commissioners. The Unit Commissioner being the most
important of all the rest because of the unit service they provide. Without
that service, we would have no reason to have the other positions.
Cimarron Council #474 |
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