Looking for original 1910 BSA merit badge handbook

[lklawson]

Help me find a book! I'm looking for an original 1910 U.S. Boy Scouts "Master at Arms" merit badge handbook.

I've already found and republished the 1926 edition but that is a much later edition and it's British. The U.S. BSA "Master at Arms" badge was discontinued almost immediately, in 1911. I'm trying to source an original copy, both for my personal research and to pursue my hobby of republishing antique manuals and making the high-quality PDF available for free.

If you're a BSA collector (or a book collector) and have a copy, please, contact me. If you're not willing to part with your original, I can get done what I need with decent quality pics or even photocopies.

Please help me preserve this information and make it available to future generations.

Thank you!

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I'm out of the loop, but just messaged someone who is friends with a few BSA "hobby-historians". If I hear back with any news I'll let you know.

 

[lklawson]

I'm out of the loop, but just messaged someone who is friends with a few BSA "hobby-historians". If I hear back with any news I'll let you know.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[geezer]

Help me find a book! I'm looking for an original 1910 U.S. Boy Scouts "Master at Arms" merit badge handbook.

I've already found and republished the 1926 edition but that is a much later edition and it's British. The U.S. BSA "Master at Arms" badge was discontinued almost immediately, in 1911. I'm trying to source an original copy, both for my personal research and to pursue my hobby of republishing antique manuals and making the high-quality PDF available for free.

If you're a BSA collector (or a book collector) and have a copy, please, contact me. If you're not willing to part with your original, I can get done what I need with decent quality pics or even photocopies.

Please help me preserve this information and make it available to future generations.

Thank you!

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Sorry, can't help. I had no idea this was even a thing in the BSA until I saw this thread. So I looked up the British copy online just in case anybody else finds it interesting too:

BSA Master-at-Arms Badge - BSA Troop 883

You can’t earn this badge any longer, but from 1911 to 1912, Scouts could earn the Master-at-Arms Badge by “attaining proficiency in two of the following subjects:” Single-Stick Quarter-Staff Fencing Boxing Ju-Jitsu Gymnastics Wrestling According to MeritBadge.org, The Master-at-Arms badge was...

bsatroop883.com

 

[Tez3]

Sorry, can't help. I had no idea this was even a thing in the BSA until I saw this thread. So I looked up the British copy online just in case anybody else finds it interesting too:

BSA Master-at-Arms Badge - BSA Troop 883

You can’t earn this badge any longer, but from 1911 to 1912, Scouts could earn the Master-at-Arms Badge by “attaining proficiency in two of the following subjects:” Single-Stick Quarter-Staff Fencing Boxing Ju-Jitsu Gymnastics Wrestling According to MeritBadge.org, The Master-at-Arms badge was...

bsatroop883.com

That's the American one though, Boy Scouts of America.

 

[lklawson]

Sorry, can't help. I had no idea this was even a thing in the BSA until I saw this thread. So I looked up the British copy online just in case anybody else finds it interesting too:

BSA Master-at-Arms Badge - BSA Troop 883

You can’t earn this badge any longer, but from 1911 to 1912, Scouts could earn the Master-at-Arms Badge by “attaining proficiency in two of the following subjects:” Single-Stick Quarter-Staff Fencing Boxing Ju-Jitsu Gymnastics Wrestling According to MeritBadge.org, The Master-at-Arms badge was...

bsatroop883.com

Yup. That's the one I republished on Lulu. Free pdf. But I found a typo in it that I need to correct.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Tez3]

Yup. That's the one I republished on Lulu. Free pdf. But I found a typo in it that I need to correct.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Scouting here still has a Master at Arms badge for the girls and boys to earn. Not ancient lol but wondered if you'd seen it.

Scouts Master at Arms Activity Badge | Scouts

Shoot an arrow with precision, Fire a rifle with pinpoint accuracy or fence with Olympian finesse.

www.scouts.org.uk

 

[lklawson]

That's the American one though, Boy Scouts of America.

Actually, ...no.

Even though the site is a U.S. based Troop, the image is taken from the 1926 MoA Handbook which was British. Published by James Brown & Son LTD in Glasgow.

I know this manual intimately.

There is a slight chance that the text and images from the '26 British handbook are exactly the same as the the '10 U.S. Handbook, but I have no evidence of that one way or the other and some small reason to think they're different.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[lklawson]

Scouting here still has a Master at Arms badge for the girls and boys to earn. Not ancient lol but wondered if you'd seen it.

Scouts Master at Arms Activity Badge | Scouts

Shoot an arrow with precision, Fire a rifle with pinpoint accuracy or fence with Olympian finesse.

www.scouts.org.uk

Yes, I'm aware (and a tad jealous). I've also seen at least one Scouter over there who's created his own system/handbook which brings back "quarterstaff" and includes FMA based stick fighting and some open hand stuff. I tried to find it again but it's not coming up on a quick google.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Tez3]

Actually, ...no.

Even though the site is a U.S. based Troop, the image is taken from the 1926 MoA Handbook which was British. Published by James Brown & Son LTD in Glasgow.

I know this manual intimately.

There is a slight chance that the text and images from the '26 British handbook are exactly the same as the the '10 U.S. Handbook, but I have no evidence of that one way or the other and some small reason to think they're different.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Mmm, it does say Boy Scouts of America though not Boy Scouts (just Scouts these days), perhaps it should add 'copied from the Brits as they are really good at fighting '

Hope you find your book, the trouble with 'handbooks' is they get well used, passed on through lots of hands and then discarded especially if outdated. I have Guiding handbooks that are so read and thumbed through they have to be replaced regularly. Albums, dairies and reports seem to last better.

 

[lklawson]

Mmm, it does say Boy Scouts of America though not Boy Scouts (just Scouts these days),

The website is for a U.S. based BSA troop. The images that they are displaying are 100% from the british published handbook.

perhaps it should add 'copied from the Brits a'

It does. Right there on the raw scans pdf they link to. "James Brown & Son LTD" in Glasgow

Hope you find your book, the trouble with 'handbooks' is they get well used, passed on through lots of hands and then discarded especially if outdated. I have Guiding handbooks that are so read and thumbed through they have to be replaced regularly. Albums, dairies and reports seem to last better.

Yup. 100% right. I've seen the same thing with pulp publication Boxing and Wrestling books. They're on crappy high-acid paper, with cheap binding, well worn, rode hard, put away wet. Finding a 19th C. manual is like treasure and they usually go for hundreds of U.S. dollars. Sometimes the more common ones can be had for under $100 U.S.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[lklawson]

I got a reply from the U.S. National Scouting Museum.

Merit badge pamphlets did not exist for Merit Badges in 1910, they came along later in the program in February 1919. The Merit Badge in question, Master at Arms, was part of the British Scouting program and was brought to the U.S. in 1909 as part of the initial launch of the Scouting program in this country. There is no record that any U.S. Scout ever earned this or any of the original 14 merit badges imported from England.

So I guess I'm looking for a copy of the 1910 British manual.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk