Old scout hat

[renoed]

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc34/renoed/personal/Scouthat.gif

Anyone know anything about this style of scout hat?

[emb021]

Yeah, that's the classic "Boss of the Plains" hat that's been a boy scout hat from day one.

 

Now a days, people know it as the 'smoky the bear' hat or 'drill instructor' hat. You almost never see scouts wearing it, but a lot of old-time scouters, especially WBers.

[SSScout]

Amateur historian that I are, I would venture to say this is an OLD, as in before WW2, Scout hat. It has a ribbon band, and a string chin lanyard. It has a thinner, as compared to a wider brim, indicating a Scout rather than an adult hat. Also note the Heart/Life badge pin, a big one. The modern pins are relatively smaller, I think. The red of the heart implies that the color is close to true, and more modern hats are a darker hue.

Someone at the Scout Museum could no doubt look at the inner band and label, if still there, and give a definite dating.

Your Grandfather's?(This message has been edited by SSScout)

[Stosh]

Early American boy scouts wore the Montana Peak hat with the creases front and back, while the non-American scouts wore the Montana Peak hats with the indentations front and back. So this is BSA.

 

Early scouts wore their advancement on their hats, not uniform. I'm thinking pre-1920 BSA with the evidence showing.

 

Stosh

[renoed]

I picked this up on E-Bay for $37 and I can't wait for it to get here.

I was going to wear my dads old hat but the moths got to it first. I still have it but it isn't wearable unfortunately so I will keep it as

a memento of him. He wore it while in the Army Pre-ww2 and it is a real Smokey the Bear hat.

[emb021]

"Early scouts wore their advancement on their hats, not uniform. I'm thinking pre-1920 BSA with the evidence showing."

 

AFAIK, they wore their advancement on their uniform. they could also wear it on their hats, but they also had hat pins for SPL and maybe PL.

 

Mitch Reis' book on dating scouting uniforms would have a more definiative answer.

 

[renoed]

Ok the hat came today and it is great. Just what you would expect for its age. I'm going to have it cleaned and blocked and in a couple of years when my Webelos grandson crosses over to a troop I will present it to him. He tried it on today and it almost covered his eyes, think he will grow into it though.

Now I just have to find an adult version for me .

[Eagle92]

Try a military surplus store.

[bacchus]

My DE gave me an old one when he left the BSA a year ago. It's too small for me, but it fits the younger kids nice for some pictures.

[Gonzo1]

You paid $37?

I'll give you $40

[SaintCad]

Slight Hijack

My son's troop wears class B's at meetings i.e. scout shirt and non-uniform pants, but I have him wear his uniform pants because after all, it is a uniform. I have a Stetson BSA campaign hat from the 30's that I wore as a denmaster. The rule (and yes I did look it up) is once something is official BSA uniform wear it is official forever. Last troop meeting it was raining pretty badly so my son asked if he could borrow the hat. Of course I said yes. He was made to take it off once inside because "wearing hats indoors is disrespectful to Scouting". Now I understand that there may be rules about wearing the hat indoors, but being in full uniform including a "true" (meaning classic) Boy Scout hat is disrespectful but wearing jeans isn't?

[Stosh]

People who don't bother to understand the situation inevitably call the wrong shots on it. We attended an out-of-council camp a number of years back and one patrol had adopted the BSA expedition hat for their uniform. The announcement before flags was to remove hats. The boys left it on. This was outside at the flag field. The second time, they made the same announcement more emphatically. The boys left them on. Finally the third day the staffer came over and stood in front of our troop and said, "This announcement applies to you!" When he was done, the SPL replied, "With all due respect, sir, just how much of the official uniform do you wish us to remove?" He then removed the hat to show him the BSA emblem on the inside of the hat and put it back on. The staffer apologized and the announcement was never made again.

 

I have had adults make critical comments about our boys because when they are not in full uniform they do not use the Scout salute, but use the civilian salute of remove hat and put hand over heart instead. While that may be rather harsh, it is very rare that any of the boys in my troop show up without full uniform.

 

As far as wearing the hat indoors, all one needs to do is look at the old photos and paintings and one soon realizes that although it may have been tradition for those in civilian attire, those in uniform left the hat on unless in a house of worship that requested it be removed out of courtesy. Some houses of worship expect you to keep your hat on to be courteous.

 

Stosh

 

 

[Stone Cold]

By the way, Smokey Bear has no middle name, unlike Winnie The Pooh or Atilla The Hun.

[BartHumphries]

I don't know about that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goEozOAQ6yI from 1952. That's the same song I learned in elementary school in the 80's. Smokey Bear sounds like smokey is an adjective.

[Hawkrod]

SaintCad wrote "The rule (and yes I did look it up) is once something is official BSA uniform wear it is official forever". Please note that this would only apply if your Troop approves the use of this type of hat. Hats are approved on a unit by unit basis and so if your Troop has not chosen to recognize the Campaign hat as official for your unit then it isn't appropriate to wear it and it would not be considered part of the uniform in that unit. The official line is "All troop members must wear the headgear chosen by vote of the troop/team" (from the uniform inspection sheet but it is listed in several documents). Hawkrod