How the Girl Guides Won the War by Janie Hampton

He wanted to find the “ways and means of doing for the girls what the Boy Scout movement is designed to do for the boys.” The Maine girls had been going to Camp WoHeLo on Lake Sebago since 1907, organised by a Dr. The first Camp Fire Girls from Vermont quickly combined with a group from Maine. He promised to set up a group for them, too. Their founder, William Chauncey Langdon, saw that the girls in Thetford, Vermont were jealous of their brothers who got to join the Boy Scouts. Like the Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls were founded in 1912. The Girl Scouts really expanded in 1916, after the US entered the First World War. She suggested a name change to “Girl Scouts” to recall the American pioneers. In 1913, Gordon Low wrote the American Girl Guides manual, “How Girls Can Help Their Country”, based upon the Baden-Powells’ writings. Her groups of Girl Scouts eventually died out, while Gordon Low’s Girl Guides went from strength to strength, soon becoming a national organisation.

Gordon Low attempted to merge her group of Girl Guides with Lisetor-Lane’s group of Girl Scouts, as they were so similar, but Lisetor-Lane was unhappy with the arrangement and refused.

Her group was originally called the Girl Guides. Once she returned to Savannah, she used her extensive social connections to spread the word and establish Girl Guiding in the USA. Gordon Low had met Robert Baden-Powell while she was in the UK. Then, Juliette Gordon Low set up her group of Girl Scouts in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia. The first was run by Clara Lisetor-Lane from Des Moines, Iowa. In fact, two Girl Scouts of America groups were set up between 19. Inspired by the Girl Guides in the UK, lots of Girl Guide-style groups began popping up in the USA.

How the Girl Guides Won the War by Janie Hampton