Emergency Service Corps Documents, Newspaper Clipping (Some Items Restricted), undated, 1937-1942

This collection consists of the records of Boy Scout Troop 4 (Sachems) of Lynn, Massachusetts, spanning from 1924 to 1945. Weekly meeting programs and reports, contained in record books, make up the bulk of the collection. The largest book of records, “Troop Minutes and Records July 26, 1926 to April 6, 1945” is divided into two folders. Years are separated within the book by title pages, often written on the backs of contemporary advertisements or flyers. Records of attendance and dues, financial records, rosters, correspondence, and news clippings are dispersed throughout meeting minutes and reports chronologically. Additional papers, including a General Eisenhower Waste Paper Campaign poster, appear after Part 2 of the records book, in Box 1, Folder 4.

Also included in the collection are newspaper clippings, Scout essays, drawings, forms, and certificates, correspondence, event and news bulletins, a photograph, and the American flag used by the troop, donated in 1988 by Cecil Weinstein. Box 1, Folder 1 contains Scouts’ applications to the Emergency Service Corps, which are restricted due to the inclusion of medical histories. In Box 1, Folder 5, some meeting minutes, written in pencil, are smudged and illegible.

Of note are mentions of the first national Scout jamboree in Washington, D.C. in 1937, including a description of a presentation on the event by attending Troop 4 Scouts. Also of note are numerous comments on the war in essays and meetings, and involvement in war-related activities during World War II.