A recent addition to the history website is a page on 20th Century Guiding leader magazines. Whilst there is not yet a full set (and whilst inevitably the page itself takes time to load) I though it would be helpful to share the images I have captured as part of my research work.
I have, after consideration, shared them – it has taken many hours of work to photograph the pages, edit them, and transfer them to a workable format – and shifting website host added to the delay! In sharing them, I have opted not to do any censoring of the content – as such, some of the text and images reflect period terminology or attitudes which would not be considered acceptable or appropriate in the modern era, particularly in terminology referring to people with disabilities, or of various ethnic backgrounds. Whilst we celebrate the positives Guiding offered in these areas, I feel we should also admit to the negatives.
The magazines contain much that is fascinating – the introduction of new Guiding sections, new uniforms, new badges and syllabus changes. We see changing attitudes in Guiding through the years – and those which have remained the same. We see the approach of the World Wars, their impact, and their aftermath – and monthly snapshots of what Guiding was doing during these eras. We see discussions and debates (not always just confined to the letters page!). We see advances in technology. We see Guiding becoming international. Yet some of the articles and advice from 100 years ago would be equally relevant today.
I appreciate the quality is imperfect – these were ‘snaps’ taken to allow me to capture the text on the spot to allow study at home rather than images intended for publication, so the aim wasn’t to capture a carefully framed page with good light quality, but simply to quickly capture the text.
I also acknowledge that some of the magazines are incomplete – it is in the nature of the magazines that people were inclined to remove pull-out sections, clip out photographs or items to use for activities, etc – and over time the rusting of staples and dog-earing or tearing of pages take their toll. Nevertheless, I hope that what remains is helpful. If you have a better copy of a magazine which you could photograph, or can supply images of one which is missing, I’d be glad to hear from you.
I acknowledge, the webpage takes a few minutes to load fully, simply because of the number of files on it. If there are technical difficulties with any of the files once they have loaded, please let me know and I will see what I can do.
I hope you find the resource helpful.
Leslie's Guiding History 